The uproar over the rejection of four skiers from the Finnish national ski team in last weekend’s Scandinavia Cup competitions has continued well into this week.
The skiers were rejected because fluoride was found in their skis above the permitted limit value. The Finnish national skiing team was not aware that there had been a rule change to the fluoride ban. The limit value for the fluoride content of skis had dropped from 1.8 to 1.0.
Cross-country competition director of the International Ski Federation FIS Michal Lamplot told Urheilu on Wednesday that the rule change had entered into force on January 1 and the teams had been informed about it.
Lubrication manager of the Finnish national team Heikki Tonteri was embarrassed by Lamplot’s statement in an interview with Urheilu and said that the matter was only clarified for the Finnish team in Otepää.
Tonter’s comments have attracted attention even in Norway. Norwegian TV2 channel’s skiing expert Petter Soleng Skinstad reacted to Urheilu’s news on X (formerly Twitter).
– I am sincerely sorry for the athletes who are denied the start or are discus. But it is not directly surprising that the Finns face such a challenge when fluoride is allowed in the Finnish national games, Skinstad wrote.
Skinstad’s comment was answered, among others, by Norway’s Viaplay ski expert Jörn Sundby. According to him, the rule change was communicated at the turn of the year at the Tour de Ski at the team managers’ meeting and the teams were also told about it via Whatsapp.
According to Sundby, the Finnish team seems to have communication problems.
Urheilu reached Skinstad by phone on Thursday. According to him, the rules have been very clear.
– The rules have been very clear. FIS’s communication about the change has also been clear all along. Finland cannot blame FIS for not knowing the rules. This is only Finland’s fault. This must be a communication problem in the Finnish team. This is not a big fault of the FIS, Skinstad said.
The rules should have been changed in Finland as well
Worked as maintenance manager of the Finnish team in Otepää’s Scandinavian Cup Mika Ström told Ilta-Sanom earlierthat two of the caught athletes had not cleaned their skis well enough.
The two athletes, on the other hand, skied with old racing pairs, the fluorides that had corroded into the soles came to the surface after the 20-kilometer traditional skiing competition, after the fluoride-free creams wore off. The permitted limit values had been exceeded in the post-race tests.
The root cause of the problem is that in Finland there is no rule banning fluoride creams in national competitions.
Finnish Ski Association announced in July, that the fluoride ban will only be prepared for the coming season. For example, in Norway, the ban was valid this season in national competitions as well as in international competitions.
– The Finnish Ski Federation should have done the same as in Norway, i.e. ban fluoride in all competitions. Different rules in international and national competitions make it possible for some Finnish athletes to be unlucky in international competitions, says Skinstad.
Skinstad says that he believes in Finland’s explanations for the causes of the fluoride outbreaks, but reminds us of the other side of the coin.
– If the Finnish Ski Federation had changed the rules, this could not have happened, Skinstad underlines.
In Skinstad’s opinion, the situation would be different if Finland had to adapt to the rule change in national competitions as well.
– Then all athletes would have cleaned their skis and equipment. They would have been ready for a fluoride-free season from the beginning. You can’t blame the athletes. They have to be the Fastest in every race with the rules that are allowed.
Skis should be cleaned properly
The Norwegian expert wants to emphasize that in Norway they do not think that Finnish athletes are cheaters. He emphasizes the responsibility of Finland’s skiing decision-makers.
– We want this to be easier for the athletes. We want everyone to have the same rules, says Skinstad.
In an interview with Urheilu, Tonteri also saw the rule change as meaningless, because calculating the limit value has no meaning in terms of sliding. According to the lubrication manager, the change will only cause unnecessary stress and mix things up.
Skinstad partly understands Tonter’s point of view.
– The rule change is more or less meaningless. There is no advantage between 1.8 and 1.0, says Skinstad, but he returns to the heart of the matter again.
According to Skinstad, it doesn’t matter if the cutoff is 1.8 or 1.0. The most important thing is to clean the skis properly.
– If you use fluoride creams on your skis, it shows up in the test as a much bigger value than 1.8 or 1.0. If there is no fluoride in the skis and they have been properly cleaned, it will not be a problem to get under one. He (Tonteri) is right about the meaninglessness of the rule change, but there is no reason why there should not be fluoride-free skis.
No threatening images at Oberhof
Mika Ström claimed to Ilta-Sanom, that the disqualifications may continue this weekend at the Oberhof World Cup. He was referring to the fact that fluoride creams can emerge from old skis.
The Norwegian expert Skinstad competes in the Ski Classics series himself. His brother Martin Soleng Skinstad on the other hand, he participated in, for example, Otepää’s Scandinavian Cup competitions.
Petter Soleng Skinstad says that both of them have competed on old skis. In his opinion, cleaning skis is a fairly simple matter. It doesn’t take long and it’s not expensive. According to Skinstad, you only need to clean the fluorine creams carefully and maybe once you have to put a fluorine-free cream on your skis.
– The Finnish team should just clean their skis properly. Then they are safe. It is not difficult to get a negative test. It’s just about cleaning and racing with fluoride-free skis. Cleaning does not take many hours and is not complicated. It’s just about getting the job done. If they do their job, I am 100% sure that the Finnish team will be safe, Skinstad outlines the situation in Finland.
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