Finland has filed a formal protest with the International Ski Federation over events during the men’s Olympic sprint at the Milan–Cortina Winter Games, alleging rule breaches by Norway and the United States.
The Finnish Ski Association and the Finnish Olympic Committee submitted the complaint to the sprint jury on Saturday morning.
The protest concerns the final of Tuesday’s race, in which Norway’s Johannes Kläbo took gold ahead of American Ben Ogden and Norway’s Oskar Vike.
Finland’s Lauri Vuorinen finished fourth.
Finnish officials argue that both Norway and the United States gained an advantage through equipment procedures that breached competition rules and instructions issued to team leaders before the event.
According to the Finnish Olympic Committee, the protest relies on information that emerged only after the race.
The dispute centres on activity in the service area during the sprint heats.
Finland states that the United States team brought a liquid substance into the waxing zone, which they described as a wax removal agent. Such liquids are banned under FIS regulations for the event.
Norway, in turn, received permission from FIS to use an electric waxing pot in the service area during the heats. Pre-event guidelines sent to teams prohibited the use of such equipment. Finland says other teams were not informed that Norway had been granted an exception.
The Finnish Ski Association said FIS later admitted it had made an error in handling the matter and apologised.
“FIS has itself admitted making a mistake, and this has led to an unfair competition in which two countries received an undue advantage without others knowing,” said Marleena Valtasola, executive director of the Finnish Ski Association, in a statement.
“Such action is impossible to accept, and a mere admission of error or apology does not correct the damage that has been done.”
Finland demands that the results be amended to reflect a situation in which no athlete benefited from action contrary to the rules.
Finnish coaches learned of the incidents on Thursday, two days after the race. At that stage, they were informed that the 48-hour time limit for lodging a protest had expired.
Both the Olympic Committee and the Ski Association state they are prepared to pursue further action if the initial protest is rejected.
HT