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≡ WORLD NORDIC CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡
The FIS World Nordic Skiing Championships were a tremendous success in Trondheim (NOR), with more than 200,000 tickets sold and many thousands more watching along the cross-country courses and ski jumps.
Norway dominated the event, winning 33 medals, and winning more golds (14) than Sweden’s second-place overall title of 12. Wow.
Now, the celebration has turned to scandal.
After the Norges Skiforbund admitted that jumping suits for Beijing 2022 Large Hill gold medalist Marius Lindvik – also the Normal Hill winner in Trondheim – and Johann Forfang, a Team gold medalist at the 2018 Winter Games, were improperly altered, the national ski jumping coach, assistant coach and equipment manager were all suspended.
On Wednesday, the International Ski & Snowboard Federation went several steps further:
● “Following the initial information-gathering process over the last few days, today team coach Magnus Brevik, assistant coach Thomas Lobben, service staff member Adrian Livelten, and athletes Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang have been notified by FIS that they are formally under investigation by the FIS Ethics and Compliance Office and are provisionally suspended, with immediate effect, from participating in FIS events and events organized by a National Ski Association, pending the investigation and adjudication procedure.”
● “[U]pon request from the external investigators of the FIS Independent Ethics and Compliance Office, on Tuesday, 11 March, FIS seized all the jumping suits that have been worn by Norwegian teams at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Trondheim 2025 – in both Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined, in both the men’s and women’s competitions. The suits will be submitted for re-inspection as part of the ongoing investigation.”
● “Given the seriousness of the case in Trondheim, suit control policy will be immediately adjusted for the remainder of the FIS World Cup season in Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined. These adjustments will be discussed and formalized at this evening’s Team Captains’ Meeting in Oslo/Holmenkollen and made public shortly thereafter.”
The Nordic Combined in implicated, of course, because it includes ski jumping, and the FIS also announced a suspension there:
“In a separate case, a member of the Norwegian Nordic Combined team, Truls Johansen, has also been notified by FIS that he is formally under investigation by the FIS Independent Ethics and Compliance Office and is provisionally suspended, with immediate effect, from participating in FIS events and events organized by a National Ski Association, pending the investigation and adjudication procedure.”
This involved the Nordic Combined Team event on 7 March:
“On that day, the Jury decided on the disqualification of Norwegian athlete Joergen Graabak citing a violation of the competition’s equipment rules related to his ski bindings. The FIS Independent Ethics and Compliance Office is now investigating the circumstances surrounding how the Norwegian team presented the equipment for inspection after they protested the disqualification.”
FIS Secretary General Michel Vion (FRA) said:
“The only thing that matters to FIS is to leave this process 100% convinced that the sport is free from any form of manipulation. We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that respect and fairness prevail – in this specific case and across our entire ecosystem.”
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Exactly what happened? The Norges Skiforbund’s statement on Monday (10th) explained the basic facts:
“What appears to have been clarified so far is that Brevik and Livelten made a choice on Friday evening [7th] to sew an extra – and stiffer – thread into the jump suits for Forfang and Lindvik.
“They first tried this on a suit that was not to be used, to test the technique of doing so, before doing it on the competition suits for Forfang and Lindvik. This – that is, sewing in an extra thread – they have not done before.
“What else has been done and tried to optimize the jump suits – both within and outside the regulations – the Jumping Committee does not have an overview of at this time.”
Lindvik and Forfang finished 2-4 in the qualifying in Saturday’s Large Hill competition in Trondheim and progressed to the final round. Lindvik eventually finished second, but both were disqualified after a post-event inspection of the equipment by FIS officials.
Conveniently, the FIS World Cups for both Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping are in Norway (Oslo and Vikersund) this week, with more information to come on instructions to the teams about the scandal and what is being done, no doubt with increased vigilance from FIS.
The Norges Skiforbund Ethics Committee issued a statement on Wednesday which included:
“The Ethics Committee understands that trust in Norwegian ski jumping has been greatly weakened and believes that it is necessary to turn over all stones, show the will and ability to clean up and prevent new cases of cheating. We welcome the FIS investigation and will assess the scope of their mandate before we possibly provide more specific advice on measures.”
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