The FIS has banned the usage of the oxygen masks in the race

A year from & rsquo; beginning of the story, the FIS has withdrawn its reservations on & rsquo; use of masks for the & rsquo; oxygen in the race, opting for a ban. The athletes will therefore continue to use them only in training.

Thursday 27 October 2016 4 minutes reading time

The question was raised in & rsquo; autumn of 2015, when the Finns were presented in Val Senales bear the masks. & Ldquo; When you go to the side, they seem to Darth Vader & rdquo ;, he commented all & rsquo; era Charlotte Kalla, giving voice to a perplexity & agrave; widespread. However, there were no rules & ndash; n & eacute; FIS, n & eacute; WADA & ndash; which prevented the & rsquo; use. During the Tour de Ski, Finland had indeed received the green light to use them in the race. The FIS, although hesitant, had given the & rsquo; assent trusting that it was WADA, in a second time, to introduce a rule against the practice. Conversely, in summer, the & rsquo; World Anti-Doping Agency is & egrave; pronounced in the opposite direction, stating that & rsquo; oxygen was not considered doping under any circumstances. Only then the international federation & egrave; activated to prohibit the practice during the races, taking care not to publicize the decision. Fr Oskar & aring; nberg, one of the researchers to whom we owe the creation of masks, explained that it had learned of the & rsquo; introduction of the only non-refurbished, studying the regulation. & Ldquo; No one had informed us of & rsquo; existence of this standard & rdquo ;, said Fr & aring; nberg. & Ldquo; The FIS had put in a difficult situation, because & eacute; He confided that it was the WADA to equate the practice of doping, and yet not & egrave; It happened. I think that's why they wanted to pass over in silence the decision: they did not want to lose face & rdquo ;. For its part, the International Federation has given his explanation to Sarah Fussek, anti-doping coordinator: & ldquo; I can confirm l & rsquo; existence of the new rule prohibiting the & rsquo; use of masks for the & rsquo; oxygen in the race. Last year there have been many discussions on this subject, perci memorize options We wanted to clarify once and for all the situation expressly forbidding & rdquo ;. Fr & aring; nberg has nevertheless stated that they share the decision of the FIS, believing that the masks can provide benefits even if used only in training: & ldquo; With our product, l & rsquo; athlete can memorize options work best on the glaciers. It also prevents respiratory problems, since & eacute; prevents from being inhaled large quantities & agrave; Cold Air & rdquo ;. Fr & aring; nberg could not resist to conclude with a provocation on the case Johaug: & ldquo; The mask also protects lips from sunburn & rdquo ;.