SKIING
Norwegian skier stripped of wins over asthma mistake
Norwegian cross country skier Martin Sundby was on Wednesday deprived of his wins in the 2015 Tour de Ski and banned for two months for using a banned asthma drug.
Published: 21 July 2016 09:00 CEST
Martin Sundby competing in the Oslo Skishow last month. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB scanpix
The Norwegian federation held their hands up to the mistake after the ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
In a statement the federation explained: “CAS has ruled that Martin Johnsrud Sundby violated the (World Anti-Doping Agency) rules for illegal use of an anti-asthma medication, Ventoline.
“The Norwegian ski federation accepts full responsibility in this affair because the federation thought that it wasn't necessary to ask for a medical dispensation to take this medication.”
The federation's doctor Knut Gabrielsen told a press conference that 31-year-old Sundby had suffered from asthma since childhood.
Traces of the banned substance were detected in an anti-doping control Sundby took at Davos in December 2014 and at Toblach in January 2015.
CAS accepted he had not taken the drug as a performance enhancer.
But for breaking the rules he was handed a two month ban, starting on July 11 and deprived of wins in the Tour de Ski and World Cup in the 2014/2015 season.
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