January 13, 2017 – SkiTrax has learned from reliable sources that FIS President, Gian-Franco Kasper, has agreed to a meeting in Lahti, Finland in February with US skier Kikkan Randall, the female representative on the FIS Athlete Commission since 2009, to address issues pertaining to widespread doping in the sport.

We contacted Randall who confirmed that indeed a meeting is planned. “We did receive a message back from Kasper regarding our letter and the invitation to meet in Lahti,” Randall told SkiTrax. “We haven’t confirmed a date or agenda yet but I will keep you updated as we get closer.”

In December, in the wake of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigator Robert McLaren’s second report into Russian doping, Randall spearheaded an appeal for action sent to Kasper at FIS and Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), along with members of both boards. The letter was signed by 100+ World Cup skiers who are concerned about clean sport in light of the Russian doping scandal. Kasper also sits on the IOC board as well as the WADA board.

“We find the handling of the evidence of state-sponsored systematic doping named in the McLaren report and other doping violations surrounding the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics to have been disturbingly lenient across multiple sports,” reads part of that December letter.

The letter also requests stronger leadership from the FIS, IOC and WADA and supports a stronger, independent WADA, with the power and autonomy to impose meaningful sanctions on the signatories to the WADA code in the case of their non-compliance. The letter also calls for “strict, swift, consistent and transparent sanctions for any signatories to the WADA code. We believe a soft-handed approach to anti-doping is allowing cheating to persist in our sport. We request stronger leadership by both the FIS and IOC to be dedicated to clean sport.”

The letter for Clean Sport included the signatures World Cup skiers from Canada, the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Sweden, as well as four Russian skiers.

“We keep adding athlete signatures to our letter and we look forward to productive discussions with Kasper and FIS Leadership in Lahti,” mentioned Randall.

“We have made the IOC Athlete Commission aware of our letter and continue to work with them to stay aware of what other sports are doing. I am personally very satisfied with the number of cross-country athletes that rallied behind the letter so quickly and am glad that our athletes see the responsibility to be role models for clean sport,” she added. “I believe positive change is already starting to happen with actions occurring on so many fronts.”

In the wake of the second McLaren Report, the National Anti-Doping Organizations of 19 countries came together recently in Dublin, Ireland, and the major outcome of the two-day meeting was the requirement to exclude Russia from all international sports.

In related news, Montreal mayor Denis Coderre announced that he will soon visit Bach in Switzerland to insist that WADA’s headquarters remain in Montreal as reported by La Presse. This is an apparent reaction to calls by Sheik Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, a Kuwaiti member of the IOC and president of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), who suggests moving WADA to Switzerland. Such a move to Switzerland is perceived as an attack on WADA’s independence.

“They want the Agency to move to Switzerland so that it will be closer to (international sporting) federations and to the IOC,” former WADA president, Dick Pound told La Presse. “But it is exactly to be far away from such influences that WADA is located in Montreal.”

SkiTrax’s previous report on Clean Sport letter here.

19 NASO meeting here.

Youtube video calling for clean sport here.

WADA asked to leave Montreal here.

Coderre to visit IOC in Switzerland here.