Doping in XC skiing

[Discgear]

Another Norwegian scandal is boiling after the latest suit fixing scandal in Ski Jump. The Finns are furious. Apparently the Norwegian Ski Team were using a "glue machine" creating a perfect wax between the races in the Sprint, something that has always been forbidden. However, they claim they got a permission from FIS, but that was not communicated to the other teams.

 

[kingjr]

Another Norwegian scandal is boiling after the latest suit fixing scandal in Ski Jump. The Finns are furious. Apparently the Norwegian Ski Team were using a "glue machine" creating a perfect wax between the races in the Sprint, something that has always been forbidden. However, they claim they got a permission from FIS, but that was not communicated to the other teams.

Assuming that's true, is FIS obliged to communicate this to the other teams?

 

[kingjr]

In other news:

[The Italian Ski Federation] has announced that the appeals committee of the Italian Anti-Doping Agency has decided to uphold Passler's appeal against the provisional suspension imposed on her. This opens the way for the biathlete to compete in the upcoming Olympic competitions in her home town of Anterselva. Passler will join the Italian squad on Monday. She will therefore miss the sprint and pursuit start, but will be allowed to compete in the relay and mass start.

Milano Cortina 2026

OL-ilden ble tent 6. februar, og de påfølgende ukene skal det arrangeres 116 medaljeøvelser. Lekene arrangeres offisielt i Milano og Cortina i Italia.

www.nrk.no

 

[Discgear]

Assuming that's true, is FIS obliged to communicate this to the other teams?

What's your own thought?

 

[kingjr]

Another Norwegian scandal is boiling after the latest suit fixing scandal in Ski Jump. The Finns are furious. Apparently the Norwegian Ski Team were using a "glue machine" creating a perfect wax between the races in the Sprint, something that has always been forbidden. However, they claim they got a permission from FIS, but that was not communicated to the other teams.

So apparently the situation is this:

The tool in question had not been listed among approved equipment at the team leaders’ meeting, but was not expressly forbidden either.

The responsible FIS Race Director, Michael Lamplot, has confirmed that Norway had asked a FIS controller whether the tool in question was allowed and received permission after the controller consulted him.
Lamplot acknowledged that this information was not shared with other teams and admitted that this lack of communication was his mistake.



At the same time, Lamplot confirmed another rumour, namely that a bottle containing a liquid substance had been seen and photographed on the US waxing table, even though liquid products of any kind were prohibited in the waxing zone. He admitted that officials had missed this during inspections, calling it an honest oversight in a busy area, and said there would be no further consequences given that two days had already passed since the race. In a statement to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, the US team confirmed the violation, explaining that the bottle contained klister remover used only to clean hands.

Sverige reagerer på Norges smøretriks: – Høres merkelig ut

Det er full oppvask etter det som skjedde i smøresonen i OL-sprinten: Konkurrerende nasjoner mener Norge fikk en fordel – USA erkjenner regelbrudd.

www.nrk.no

 

[kingjr]

What's your own thought?

I think that Norway was simply smarter by asking for permission. The other teams' lack of initiative can't be laid at Norway's door, nor should be laid at that of FIS. That being said, if the rules require FIS to share this information, then the race director needs to face repercussions.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

In other news:

[The Italian Ski Federation] has announced that the appeals committee of the Italian Anti-Doping Agency has decided to uphold Passler's appeal against the provisional suspension imposed on her. This opens the way for the biathlete to compete in the upcoming Olympic competitions in her home town of Anterselva. Passler will join the Italian squad on Monday. She will therefore miss the sprint and pursuit start, but will be allowed to compete in the relay and mass start.

Milano Cortina 2026

OL-ilden ble tent 6. februar, og de påfølgende ukene skal det arrangeres 116 medaljeøvelser. Lekene arrangeres offisielt i Milano og Cortina i Italia.

www.nrk.no

Well, she obviously won‘t be able to compete in the mass start unless literally every other athlete at the Olympics pulls out of the race, but a very *uh* unusual decision.

 

[search]

lining her up for the relay would probably be too much of a risk as well

 

[search]

apparently she really has a case, with her mother suffering from cancer, and (according to Passler) taking exactly that medication.

If true, she may have a realistic chance to be cleared in the end, I assume.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Bulgaria with oldschool Wolfgang Pichler suddenly flying on the women's side in Biathlon is pretty suspect.

 

[Rob5091]

Nutella, the doper's number 1 source! (should n't cutlery not be passed around amongst people?)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...mpics-rebecca-passler-doping-positive-nutella

In her appeal, the 24-year-old said she lived with her mother who was taking letrozole as part of her treatment for breast cancer and that the contamination likely came from a spoon which she used to eat some Nutella hazelnut spread for breakfast the day before the test.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Nutella, the doper's number 1 source! (should n't cutlery not be passed around amongst people?)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...mpics-rebecca-passler-doping-positive-nutella

We went from "mah Mamma's tortellini" saving Errati to "mah Mamma's Nutella" for Passler...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Bulgaria with oldschool Wolfgang Pichler suddenly flying on the women's side in Biathlon is pretty suspect.

Similar to his work with Sweden in 2018.

That said, it clearly isn't working universally - Dimitrova and Hristova were very similar talents coming through youth and juniors, Dimitrova was if anything slightly better before Pichler came on board, but since then she's stagnated horribly while Hristova has improved drastically (she was already improving clearly before this, but this is another level on top of that entirely), while Todorova is one of those "on her day she can do it" types who was very quick as a junior and had both World Cup and World Championships top 20s all the way back in 2019-20. And at least she has World Cup podiums from last season, 7 top 10s in all and a LOT of results from 11th to 20th that make her at least a reasonable outsider to have been that close to a medal compared to some. The timing of it is questionable to say the least, and she's Vladimir Iliev's partner as well for whatever that's worth.

Curiously, Hristova as a youth competitor and in her U20 year - so before Pichler joined the Bulgarian team - was very good among her contemporaries. She was beating the likes of Andexer, Fichtner and Kirkeeide at the Salt Lake City Junior Worlds back in 2022 (although she was DQed from the sprint), part of the Bulgarian bronze medal relay (with Dimitrova and Popova), and took two medals at the Madona Junior Euros in 2023 ahead of the likes of Michelon, Richard (the two French women being a year older than her too), Andexer, Puff, Tannheimer (albeit Tannheimer is two years younger than her), Fichtner and Bondoux. You would expect the greater resources to bring the top teams' athletes ahead of her by now, and indeed Michelon and Kirkeeide are clearly stronger athletes over the course of a season at this point in time, and although they've been disappointing at these Olympics, so are Grotian and Tannheimer. Of the four women that beat a three-miss Hristova back in 2022, only Iva Morić has failed to become a World Cup regular, and that's largely because she hit 20/20 in that race, her ski speed stopped her from progressing in the German team and she's switched to representing Croatia.

Pichler's getting them to peak like this - especially after not racing since Ruhpolding - may be suspicious, I recall a lot of eyebrows raised about Hanna Öberg and Sebastian Samuelsson back in 2018 too. A 20/20 Individual is, and remains, the most likely way for such an outsider to score a medal, but in my opinion Lora Hristova isn't even the most surprising Individual podium this season - I think Leinamo was more of a shock. Last year at the World Championships Hristova was 13th on 19/20, and would have been 7th with the full house. In Östersund she was 23rd in the Individual on 18/20, and would have been 7th with the full house. This time she hit the full house. Julia Simon won the Individual in Lenzerheide '25 on 19/20 and Lora Hristova was +2'30 on 19/20. This year Julia Simon won the Individual in Antholz on 19/20, and Lora Hristova was +1'04 on 20/20 - so she improved her time relative to Simon by only around 26" over 15km, so overall it's not quite as eyebrow-raising as it may seem from the surface.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Similar to his work with Sweden in 2018.

That said, it clearly isn't working universally - Dimitrova and Hristova were very similar talents coming through youth and juniors, Dimitrova was if anything slightly better before Pichler came on board, but since then she's stagnated horribly while Hristova has improved drastically (she was already improving clearly before this, but this is another level on top of that entirely), while Todorova is one of those "on her day she can do it" types who was very quick as a junior and had both World Cup and World Championships top 20s all the way back in 2019-20. And at least she has World Cup podiums from last season, 7 top 10s in all and a LOT of results from 11th to 20th that make her at least a reasonable outsider to have been that close to a medal compared to some. The timing of it is questionable to say the least, and she's Vladimir Iliev's partner as well for whatever that's worth.

Curiously, Hristova as a youth competitor and in her U20 year - so before Pichler joined the Bulgarian team - was very good among her contemporaries. She was beating the likes of Andexer, Fichtner and Kirkeeide at the Salt Lake City Junior Worlds back in 2022 (although she was DQed from the sprint), part of the Bulgarian bronze medal relay (with Dimitrova and Popova), and took two medals at the Madona Junior Euros in 2023 ahead of the likes of Michelon, Richard (the two French women being a year older than her too), Andexer, Puff, Tannheimer (albeit Tannheimer is two years younger than her), Fichtner and Bondoux. You would expect the greater resources to bring the top teams' athletes ahead of her by now, and indeed Michelon and Kirkeeide are clearly stronger athletes over the course of a season at this point in time, and although they've been disappointing at these Olympics, so are Grotian and Tannheimer. Of the four women that beat a three-miss Hristova back in 2022, only Iva Morić has failed to become a World Cup regular, and that's largely because she hit 20/20 in that race, her ski speed stopped her from progressing in the German team and she's switched to representing Croatia.

Pichler's getting them to peak like this - especially after not racing since Ruhpolding - may be suspicious, I recall a lot of eyebrows raised about Hanna Öberg and Sebastian Samuelsson back in 2018 too. A 20/20 Individual is, and remains, the most likely way for such an outsider to score a medal, but in my opinion Lora Hristova isn't even the most surprising Individual podium this season - I think Leinamo was more of a shock. Last year at the World Championships Hristova was 13th on 19/20, and would have been 7th with the full house. In Östersund she was 23rd in the Individual on 18/20, and would have been 7th with the full house. This time she hit the full house. Julia Simon won the Individual in Lenzerheide '25 on 19/20 and Lora Hristova was +2'30 on 19/20. This year Julia Simon won the Individual in Antholz on 19/20, and Lora Hristova was +1'04 on 20/20 - so she improved her time relative to Simon by only around 26" over 15km, so overall it's not quite as eyebrow-raising as it may seem from the surface.

Pichler said that mainly focussing on the Olympics instead of World Cup races was the choice and they did 3 weeks of altitude in Antholz instead of going to Nove Mesto.

I can admit that he probably has a system that helps you to perform better relative to your ability than those who focus too much of their energy on the World Cup, but still. The guy is oldschool (just like many people involved with the sport in Antholz) and multiple skiers from a small, more fringe nation suddenly flying at the same time during the Olympics is usually a red flag.