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Swiss head coach Tom Stauffer looks forward to the coming Alpine winter with some skepticism. Stauffer’s athletes have largely trained very well in recent months on the glaciers in Valais and South America. But it is the new FIS ban on fluorinated waxes that worries the 53-year-old Bernese Oberlander.
“I don’t doubt for a second that our service people comply with the regulations. But based on conversations I’ve had with ski industry representatives, I’m concerned that unfair disqualifications may occur due to measurement errors!
Consecutive. The International Ski Association has banned ski preparation with fluorine-containing products for ecological reasons. According to expertise, various fluorine compounds are not degradable and can therefore cause minor damage to people and the environment.
Doubts about the measuring device
The FIS will therefore test the athletes’ racing slats for fluorine content after every World Cup match with a specially made device. Three samples are taken per ski: at the tip, in the middle and at the end. If the device lights up green three times, everything is fine. However, if the device flashes red three times, the racer is disqualified. What worries many trainers and athletes: During the testing phase, the device flashed red on new ski surfaces that were guaranteed never to have come into contact with fluorine.
Chief race director Rainer Salzgeber (56) witnessed some of these failed tests. And the Austrian, who won the silver medal at the Giant Slalom World Cup in 1993, can only somewhat reassure the skiing family six weeks before the start of the World Cup in Sölden. “The last test measurements seemed much more reliable to me. But there are still some sticking points in this issue.”
The ski outfitter of superstar Marco Odermatt (25) also knows this. Longtime Stöckli race director Beni Matti (42) gives an example: “When the skis are re-sharpened, emulsion is regularly added to the cooling water of the machines so that the units do not rust. In the fluorine test measurements, this substance often showed a higher value than normal waxed skis. The allowed FIS value is 0.99. “It is therefore suspected that the FIS measuring device cannot accurately determine the definition of fluorine.” This means: At least in some cases, the device cannot distinguish whether it is fluorine or another substance.
The concerns of the Odermatt supplier
But Matti recognizes two other major problems. «Let’s assume that starting number 3 starts the race with a ski that contains fluorine. Any subsequent athlete with an impeccable surface could have ridden this track and ingested fluorine residue and therefore been disqualified.
The fluorine ban also increases the risk of sabotage: “Because there is not nearly as much space in the ski circus as in Formula 1, for example, four different outfitters often share a washing container. And therefore it would be quite easy for everyone if they wanted to put fluoride on the skis of their worst competitor.” A ski winter with a lot of gossip and bad suspicions is therefore inevitable.
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
