Winter sports
“Giant barrel”: Fluorine wax ban unsettles the ski circus
Cross-country skiing team boss Peter Schlickenrieder is angry with the World Ski Association. photo
© Jens Niering/dpa
There is uncertainty in the ski circus. The ban on fluorowax is the reason for many question marks among athletes and officials. Other winter sports are also affected and there are great concerns.
Even before the start of the new season, the team boss of the German cross-country skiers is angry with the World Ski Association. With the delicate ban on fluorine wax, the Fis has “opened a huge barrel,” complains Peter Schlickenrieder.
His uneasy feeling could have been made even worse by the start of the Alpine winter, already at the first World Cup Sölden confirmed the fears of opponents of the rule change with a controversial disqualification. The regulation also applies to other winter sports from this season – the concerns are great.
In Sölden, Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel was removed from the rankings after traces of the banned element were found on her skis. The doubters now expect that this exclusion will not remain an isolated case. Fis Secretary General Michel Vion had stated that they did not want any disqualifications. Just 24 hours after his announcement, Mowinckel, who protested her innocence, was caught.
Material battle looms
Fluorine, which occurs as a gas under normal conditions, is extremely water-repellent and can therefore provide a speed advantage. There is a risk of a material battle because, despite the ban, halogen could be used in minimal quantities. Karlheinz Waibel, national science trainer at the German Ski Association, even warned in the Münchner Merkur/tz media group of a “cheating culture like in cycling in the 90s”.
The Fis raised the limit shortly before the start of the season in Austria “to ensure that the tests run smoothly at the beginning of the season and to rule out any speculation about possible contamination of the skis,” it said. In a sport where the smallest things make a difference, even the small use of fluorine increases the chances of success. What remains is a dangerous game. Athletes and service people could be tempted to push the limits.
The Fis enforced the ban because fluorine is harmful to the environment and is considered carcinogenic. Schlickenrieder, on the other hand, puts the financial aspect in the foreground. “In our opinion, the fluorine preparations were an easy way for smaller nations to compensate for large differences. What is happening now costs a lot of money,” says Schlickenrieder.
Doubts about measuring devices
According to him, the measuring devices cost 40,000 euros. They are not considered particularly reliable. “Our measurements have shown that non-fluorinated skis can hit the measuring system randomly,” said Michael Gufler, head of technology at the Austrian Ski Association, to the APA news agency. According to Gufler, a questionnaire sent to the Fis was not answered “satisfactorily”.
This also causes discord among the athletes. “If I ski a good descent but lose half a second, what should the service man say? I didn’t screw up, but maybe others did?” Olympic champion Lara Gut-Behrami told the Swiss daily newspaper “Blick”. “I’m not going to go to my service man and say, ‘Try it!'” Austrian world-class downhill skier Vincent Kriechmayr doesn’t share the concerns. “If someone were to use fluorine, it would be so dramatic. I don’t see a problem with that,” he said.
The German speed driver Kira Weidle announced a joint approach by the world leaders. This is not directed against the fluorine ban per se. “But the way it’s being handled is not fair,” Weidle said.
“Let’s all start from scratch now”
In biathlon, the ban was announced in autumn 2019, but the introduction was postponed to the 2023/24 season due to insufficient testing procedures. The measuring device used now offers “reliable tests to ensure fluorine-free biathlon competitions,” said the world association IBU, which wants to ensure “the integrity of the competitions and a level playing field.”
Schlickenrieder is also hoping for fair races in the cross-country skiing season that begins on November 24th. In order to prepare as best as possible, we completed many workshops. It was a complex procedure, said the 53-year-old. “We don’t want the team to be torn apart if there are incorrect measurements. We then want to analyze the process thoroughly. Of course, a lot of the knowledge is based on waxing with fluorine. We’re all starting from scratch now.”