Police walked in at the perfect moment to catch this athlete in the act

Max Hauke caught in the middle of doping. Source:Supplied

This is the shocking moment police burst in on a top skier in the middle of a blood transfusion.

Austrian Max Hauke — who is also a police cadet — was one of five skiers arrested in anti-doping raids at the Nordic skiing world championships in Seefield yesterday.

Incredible footage released by Austrian publication Vorarlberg Online, shows the shamed star caught in the act with a needle in his arm before a race.

When asked whether anyone else is at home, an embarrassed Hauke, 26, shakes his head.

He admitted to blood doping and co-operated with police in the investigation, a statement confirmed.

Austrian media claim Hauke and fellow doping countryman Dominik Baldauf are also qualified police cadets.

Hauke, who competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was a training partner of Brit Andrew Young.

The 27-year-old has branded him "disgusting" and called for a lifetime ban.

"I am getting nauseous. It is disgusting to look at," he said.

"There is no room for it in sports and I did not realise that he was doing it.

"It is difficult to describe what you feel after seeing a friend cheating.

"I don't hate him, but at the same time I don't want him back in the cross-country circuit. You can't come back after you've done that."

Trond Nystad, a coach in the Austrian skiing set-up, was sickened by the video.

"It hurts my stomach. It hurts my whole body when I see something like that. It's awful. It is difficult to describe with words. It's disgusting," he said.

Hauke was one of two Austrian skiers arrested for doping, along with two Estonian and one Kazakhstani athlete.

The raids are aimed at taking down a Germany-based "criminal operation" suspected of having carried out blood doping for years.

A 40-year-old sports doctor believed to be the mastermind behind the organisation was also arrested, police confirmed.