According to the claims of two experienced ski lubricators, the fluorine test device has already been cheated. Now they reveal how.
International the fluoride ban set by the ski federation (Fis) has been the dominant topic of conversation this ski season.
Now two Finnish lubrication experts are throwing more water on the stove. According to them, it is possible to cheat on fluoride tests.
“There is already concrete evidence of that, claims the ski maintenance veteran Ilkka Lamminsivu”which has long represented the Italian Star and the German Zipp cream brand.
“The evidence was obtained at the national championships held in Vöyri in January.”
Fis has banned the use of fluoride creams, but the ban does not apply to Finnish national competitions. However, Vöyri used the same fluoride ban control device as, for example, in the World Cup, because the athletes were expected to ski with fluoride-free creams.
“With a certain mixture, the device seems to be falsifiable,” says Lamminsivu, who has been in the ointment business for over 30 years.
“In Vöyri, several pairs of skis passed the test, the soles of which also had fluoride cream mixed in. The test device was used by an expert from the Ski Association, so the test was in competent hands.”
“
Due to a certain mix, the device seems to be foolable. Several pairs of skis passed the test, the soles of which also had fluoride cream mixed in.
Ski maintenance veteran Ilkka Lamminsivu sees many disadvantages in the fluoride ban.
The same the claim is made by a former top skier at the national level Sami Heiskanenwho has been actively testing skis with both fluorinated and non-fluorinated ski creams throughout the winter.
“I wasn't at Vöyri myself, but I gave two skiers lubrication instructions, which, in my opinion, allowed the test device to be cheated. After the race, the skiers said that they had passed the test with flying colors, even though the soles of their skis had also had fluoride cream on them,” says ski entrepreneur Heiskanen.
“Of course, the testing device is very sensitive, and if someone wants to rely on fraud, they have to be extremely careful.”
Both Lamminsivu and Heiskanen say their motivation is the desire to find out if the test device can be trusted.
“I think it is vital to find out whether the test device works without gaps or not. It is in the interest of all athletes”, Heiskanen reasons.
”
Here we are only looking for justice for the athletes”, Lamminsivu sees.
Sami Heiskanen, a former top skier at the national level, talks about a method he says can be used to cheat in a fluoride test. The picture is from 2011.
With such a device, fluoride testing is performed. The device scans the bottom of the ski with FTIR infrared measurement. Pictured is the only testing device in Finland that has been in use in Vuokatti since last fall.
in Finland there is only one standard-compliant device in use. Its value is around 40,000 euros.
Fluorine ban's test device illuminates the bottom of the ski with infrared and then makes a frequency conversion from the reflection, which is used to determine what substance is on the bottom of the ski.
The device's sensitivity was confirmed in mid-January at the Scandinavia Cup competition in Otepää, Estonia, where four Finnish skiers failed the fluoride test.
Having worked as Finland's maintenance manager in Estonia Mika Strömin according to the two rejections were due to careless cleaning of the skis, which had been the responsibility of the skiers themselves. The old fluorides had not been cleaned sufficiently accurately, when the limit value there was 1.0 instead of the previous 1.8.
“For the other two athletes, there was no problem with cleaning, but they skied the race on old skis that had been skied and powdered a lot during the fluoride era. In the 20-kilometer race, the fluoride-free cream was worn so much that the old fluorides left in the pores of the sole came out,” explained Ström at the time.
How did the test deception brought out by Lamminsivu and Heiskanen succeed at Vöyri? And how is that even possible?
The duo underlines that the lubrication tools used must be “supremely clean”.
“The skis must be cleaned very carefully, and the equipment must not contain any old fluoride residues anyway,” says Heiskanen.
“After that, we'll make the actual cocktail.”
The fluoride ban has brought additional challenges to the maintenance team members of World Cup skiers, such as Joni Mäki.
Heiskanen according to Vöyri, fluorine-free paraffin cream was first applied to the soles of the skis that passed the tests.
“A mixture of 40 percent old fluoride powder cream and 60 percent fluoride-free powder was then spread over it. At least this time, this was enough to pass the tests,” he says.
Lamminsivu tells about the method in a similar way.
“Those who decided on the fluoride ban don't seem to have known what they were doing. If the testing is not open-ended, it may be possible to make huge differences with the competitors with fluoridation,” he says.
“Unfortunately, the test does not seem to have gaps.”
Fluoride testing area in Ruka during the world cup games in November.
A sign telling about the fluoride testing area in Ruka.
“
Those who decided on the fluoride ban don't seem to have known what they were doing. If the testing is not gap-free, it may be possible to make huge differences with the competitors with fluorine filters.
According to Heiskanen, in freezing temperatures of over five degrees below zero, there is almost no difference in slip between the creams.
“When we get closer to zero temperatures, the difference in favor of fluorine creams increases substantially. The wetter the snow composition, the more important the cream is,” Heiskanen emphasizes.
“The difference in wet weather can be up to one and a half minutes, if not more, in a 10 kilometer journey in favor of fluoride cream.”
Lamminsivu says that he was surprised by the sudden differences in ski functionality seen in the World Cup competitions this season. There have been quite a few athletes who have been nervous in the Fis tests.
Lamminsivu still does not suspect any country of systematic fraud, but rather wants to highlight the disadvantages of fluoride testing.
“In my opinion, the biggest problem is related to the fact that the grip areas of the skis are not tested at all,” he says.
“In traditional skiing, the slip of the grip lubrication is the most decisive factor, and fluorine is also used in the grip lubricants. Fluorine grips were developed to repel moisture, i.e. to reduce the risk of freezing in subzero temperatures.”
The national team's maintenance manager Heikki Tonteri thinks that the fluoride ban's test device could not be cheated.
Finland for the head of the maintenance team of the cross country team For Heikki Tonter the claims of Vöyr's test cheating at the Games come as a complete surprise.
“I haven't heard anything about it,” says Tonteri.
Do you believe that the test device can be fooled with a certain mixture, if the lubrication equipment and skis remain clean of previous fluoride residues?
“It's hard to answer when I don't have any experience with it. I guess the test device wouldn't be foolable, but I really can't be sure. Even if the trick did work, the risk of being caught would be so great that at the national team level, I don't think anyone resorted to deception,” says Tonteri.
“I really want to trust that everyone is honest in this regard. I have a clear line: the Finnish national team will not even play around with such an idea, because if it were to go into a gray area, there would definitely be trouble at some point.”
According to Tonter, cheating in the World Cup would not be simple.
“At least in the service trucks of the national teams, fluorine could not be used, because it would be exposed immediately. So the lubrication should be done elsewhere.”
Picture from Ruka from November 2023: Before the test, the skis were put in their own racks, after the test in another.
The plot think that the fluoride ban has been a welcome reform.
“Of course, I was still a little skeptical about it in the summer, but all the measurements have gone well in the World Cup. I am especially happy that now it is much easier for our maintenance team members to breathe,” Tonteri emphasizes.
“We had good filters and vacuum cleaners before, but now the air cleanliness in our truck is completely different.”
Fis banned fluoride creams citing environmental reasons and health hazards. According to Fis, fluoride creams contain compounds that are dangerous to health.
#Skiing #fierce #claim #Finnish #lubrication #guru #controversial #test #easily #cheated
