July 20, 2016 (Lausanne, Switzerland) – Norwegian superstar Martin Johnsrud Sundby has received a two-month suspension and been stripped of his 2014/15 Tour de Ski title and his overall World Cup title for the same season. This follows a Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS) ruling after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed an earlier decision by the International Ski Federation (FIS) Doping Panel not to punish the skier.

Sundby twice tested positive for salbutamol, a medication he used to treat asthma, between December 2014 and January 2015. While the Norwegian is authorized to use the medication, the concentrations exceeded his authorized dosage.

The situation has become “an athlete’s worst nightmare” says Sundby who claims to have “always competed on clean and honest terms” and that he followed the Norwegian Ski Federation guidelines and medical recommendations adding “I had no reason to doubt their understanding of the regulations.”

According to an AP report the Norwegian Federation said in a statement that it assumed full responsibility for the matter, adding it would compensate Johnsrud Sundby for the prize money of around $130,000. Meanwhile Switzerland’s Dario Cologna will now be awarded the 2014-15 overall World Cup title, and Petter Northug of Norway, who was not destined to win the Tour de Ski given the final climb up Alpe Cermis, has been awarded the 2015 title.

The two-month suspension – which started July 11 – is among the shortest that SkiTrax is familiar with for professional athletes. It seems that Sundby will serve out the entirety of this suspension during the summer raising eyebrows by some observers. The lightness of this sanction is addressed in the CAS press release below and apparently justified because of a lack of clarity regarding what the maximum permitted dose of salbutamol.

“On 12 October 2015, WADA filed a statement of appeal at the CAS challenging the FIS Doping Panel’s decision and requesting that it be set aside. The arbitration was referred to a panel of CAS arbitrators who held a hearing on 25 and 26 May 2016,” reads part of a CAS press release.

“The arbitration centred on the athlete’s administration of his asthma medication, salbutamol, with the use of a nebulizer. In its decision, the CAS Panel found that the method of ingestion (i.e. inhalation) must be distinguished from other forms of administration such as ingestion or injection, and that the dosage allowed under the FIS Anti-Doping Regulations must be understood as the prescribed “labelled” dosage. Any use of salbutamol with a nebulizer beyond such ‘labelled’ dose, without a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), constituted an anti-doping rule violation.”

“In determining the sanction, the Panel found that there was medical justification for the athlete’s use of salbutamol, that his degree of fault was light and therefore warranted the imposition of a suspension shorter than the standard measure for such cases, in this instance, a two-month period of ineligibility.”

“Furthermore, pursuant to the FIS rules, the results achieved in the competition concerned shall always be disqualified by the hearing panel with no exception, irrespective of an athlete’s light degree of fault, as is the case involving Mr. Sundby.”

Yet while apparently “degree of fault is light. Still I am severely punished” claims Sundby.

SkiTrax readers will recognize Sundby’s name as the winner of the inaugural Ski Tour Canada earlier in 2016 as he also claimed the overall World Cup title again, his third consecutive series win until today’s ruling. He became the first Norwegian to win the Tour de Ski (2013-4) and won again this past season for a historic third consecutive time – but now no longer the case.

The 31-year-old also won silver at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics (4x10km relay) and bronze at the 2014 Sochi Olympics (30km skiathlon). At World Championships, he won gold in 2011 in Oslo (4x10km relay), silver at the 2013 Val di Flemme (30km skiathlon) and bronze in 2011 at Oslo (15km classic). In terms of World Cup events, Sundby has amassed some 53 individual podiums.

CAS ruling here.
Norwegian Ski Federation Statement here.