Gian-Franco Kasper, the President of FIS for the past 23 years, will step down after a new candidate is elected at the FIS virtual FIS Congress on Friday, June 4th. The new President will be only the fifth person to hold that role since the inception of FIS in 1924. The elections come at an inflection point within the organization as it looks to navigate the ski sports under its governance into a new, post-pandemic...
Like so many organizations, FIS, the governing body for international skiing, is a slow-to-change entity. Doping reforms, for example, have evolved but at a yawn-worthy rate. So in rather atypical fashion, like a finger snap, FIS voted to oust its Secretary General, Sarah Lewis, on October 9th. Lewis had been considered a lifer at FIS. She’d been on staff for two decades. News on the “why” of her removal remains sparse. Yet it was an...
The International Ski Federation announced last Friday that Secretary General Sarah Lewis has been relieved of her duties effective immediately. “At its meeting today, the FIS Council, including the members of the Marc Hodler Foundation, has decided by a great majority vote to terminate the employment relationship with Sarah Lewis (in accordance with its contractual terms) and that she is released from her work duties as the Secretary General of FIS, effective 9th October 2020.”...
ZURICH, Switzerland—Tucked at the top of U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s list of proposals for policy changes at the recent International Ski Federation (FIS) Technical Meetings here was this: “Independent Doping Panel.” The idea was developed along with the Norwegians, who submitted an identical proposal. U.S. Ski and Snowboard President and CEO Tiger Shaw explained that at the moment, FIS decisions made on doping may be made by individuals who also serve other roles in the...
The first cases handled by the IOC Disciplinary Commission from the 2014 Olympics in Sochi are expected to be brought this month. Depending on when this month, Alexander Legkov may be free to compete internationally again.
The International Ski Federation (FIS) has denied an appeal by six Russian cross-country skiers suspended under the suspicion of doping. identified at least 34 skiers mentioned in the McLaren report, an investigation into systematic doping in Russia. Content of Legkov and Belov Appeal Legkov and Belov, in German and writes on its website. Urine contains substances excreted from the body, while blood contains those integrated into the body. Testing agencies may not even test for...
"Normally, if she is guilty, it is very clear that she should receive a 4-year ban," FIS President Gian Franco Kasper said in an interview with Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, while admitting that he had seen no evidence from the case.
Although the IOC said in July that Russia should not host any international winter sports events due to their systematic doping violations and cheating at the 2014 Olympics, it apparently walked those guidelines back -- and now Russia has been awarded biathlon World Championships, despite the fact that the country is not currently in compliance with the WADA Code.
FIS rules did not require a provisional suspension for Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby after his urine samples came back with high concentrations of salbutamol. And after their hearing panel concluded he had broken no rules - a finding later reverse by the Court of Arbitration for Sport - FIS could only publicize the case with Sundby's permission. They say he refused.
On Tuesday, the IOC Executive Board responded to the McLaren report and listed provisional measures for international sports federations moving forward. Fortunately for FIS and the IBU, they're not on the same timeline as summer sports, and will convene at a meeting in just over two weeks in Rio.
The latest documentary by Hajo Seppelt alleges that Natalia Zhelanova, the anti-doping assistant at Russia's Ministry of Sport, tipped off skiing and biathlon teams before sample collection. Did WADA's ADAMS system, where federations are encouraged to pre-register their planned tests, allow this to happen?
“There needs to be an investigation by WADA,” International Ski Federation (FIS) Secretary General Sarah Lewis told FasterSkier in a phone interview on Monday. “FIS totally supports it and we have already expressed that anything we can provide, we will do. And it needs to be done [quickly], but carefully.”
The international federations for cross-country skiing and biathlon tout that they have done more against Russian doping than the IAAF - for instance, re-testing old samples with new methods, or sanctioning the Russian ski federation. But WADA's report still scared them, and they want more information.
Athletes will likely no longer face the testing at Olympic Games. The decision has few other implications for skiing, which has not had occasion to do gender testing for several years: “Should it be necessary to arrange a gender verification... then the Olympic Movement rules would be applicable,” FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis told FasterSkier.
Although Andrus Veerpalu technically won his doping appeal against FIS, the issues at stake actually had nothing to do with the ski federation - they were rather under WADA's domain. In an interview with FasterSkier, FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis talked about what this means for federations like hers which have to follow WADA's scientific lead.
When Andrus Veerpalu tested positive for recombinant human grown hormone in both his A and B samples in the winter of 2011, FIS used a peer-reviewed, reliable test to detect the abnormalities and seemed to have a slam-dunk case. In a highly unusual appeals case that surprised scientists and anti-doping administrators alike, the Court of Arbitration for Sport found that WADA had made missteps in setting detection limits. Here's how Veerpalu won a case even though CAS was sure he was guilty.
As soon as the news broke that Estonian Olympic gold medalist and world champion Andrus Veerpalu had tested positive for human growth hormone (HGH), the ski world knew that a fight lay ahead. For Veerpalu and the Estonians, a doping ban would be disastrous; as FasterSkier reported a 1999 study by a group of European and Australian researchers showed that exercise did spike HGH levels in the bloodstream by more then tenfold, the decline was dramatic...
Two skiers have received more than $5,000 in overdue prize money owed to them after the disqualification of a Russian skier for doping in 2009. This spring, both Finland’s Sami Jauhojaervi and the Czech Republic’s Lukas Bauer confirmed to FasterSkier that they had each received some 2,200 Swiss francs apiece from the International Ski Federation (FIS), for their performances in the 2009 edition of the Tour de Ski. Jauhojaervi and Bauer finished 10th and 11th,...
The Russian Ski Association (FLGR) has received high praise over the last two months for its work to combat performance-enhancing drug use. After being fined more than $180,000 this spring, the country escaped a second round of penalties at meetings of the International Ski Federation (FIS) in early November, thanks to its anti-doping efforts—which included changes in officials and coaches affiliated with scandals. “We know they are on the right track,” Gian Franco Kasper, the...
A second athlete has not been paid more than $2,000 U.S. dollars owed to him under International Ski Federation (FIS) rules. When Russian cross-country skier Evgeni Dementiev was suspended for doping in 2009, FIS rules called for the redistribution of 4,375 Swiss francs in prize money that he won at that year’s edition of the Tour de Ski, after testing positive for performance-enhancing drug use. But in an e-mail to FasterSkier, Czech skier Lukas Bauer,...