Outrage over banned wax at the Engadine Ski Marathon: the disqualified winner receives a two-year starting ban

class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>

Maëlle Veyre (21) reached the finish of the Engadine Ski Marathon with a minute lead, but shortly after the first photos of the winners in the dirty snow, the Frenchwoman stopped laughing. The red light lights up on the testing device that examines Veyre’s skis for fluorine in the wax, which has been banned for skiing since this winter.

Disqualification. The alleged dominator achieved the biggest triumph of her young career just minutes after crossing the finish line. Veyre won bronze in the 20km at the U23 World Championships a month ago and has only competed twice in the World Cup so far. The fact that she has now been eliminated as the winner of the rankings is causing a stir. Janis Lindegger, who is on site as a technical representative of FIS, says according to a press release: “This surprises and disappoints me!”

Twelve participants are eliminated from the rankings

Veyre has not yet publicly responded to the disqualification. After her exclusion, last year’s winner Giuliano Werro (24) inherits the place at the top of the podium. And the woman from Zernez does not have to fear competition from the Frenchwoman for the next two years: Veyre is not allowed to race in the Engadine for two years due to her fluorine violation. The other eleven participants whose fluorine levels were too high received the same punishment.

In the women’s competition on March 3, two of the top six were disqualified because fluorine wax was also found in them. The OK condemned these ‘unsportsmanlike and harmful to nature’ attempts and announced that controls would be tightened again for Sunday’s ski marathon.

Suspiciously fast skis were reported

The FIS has now examined 50 skis. There were no gaps in the top fields, but Veyre was the only one in the women’s and men’s top ten to remain in control. Random samples were taken from the remaining 11,000 participants because the ban also applied to the vast majority of amateur runners.

OK boss Adriano Iseppi describes on SRF that observers along the route had the task of reporting suspiciously fast skis and marking them for inspection. The terrible conditions were actually perfect for the use of fluorinated waxes; the chemical ensures that the water rolls off better and the skis glide better. It’s not exactly unlikely that Veyre had such a small advantage in her alleged drive to win. But now she will not return to the cross-country skiing classic in the Engadine until 2027 at the earliest.

Source : Blick