In June, representatives from the national teams in cross-country skiing and biathlon, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and the International Biathlon Federation (IBU) were on-site in Ramsau, Austria, for further testing of the fluoride test equipment.

On site were, among others, the waxing managers from the Swedish national teams in cross-country skiing (Petter Myhlback) and biathlon (Kent Norell).

“We Swedes had previously had tests in Bruksvallarna and were not satisfied with the answers we received regarding the test equipment. Unfortunately, it was the same in Ramsau, and there is a great consensus in this. Everyone agrees that the reliability is insufficient,” Petter Myhlback told langd.se.

According to the expert group in IBU and FIS, the fluoride test device is not close enough reliable to ensure fair and predictable competition, only four months before the start of the season.

During the test session in Ramsau, Austria, in June, the testers confirmed their hypotheses that it is easy to cheat the handheld fluoride test device, and that there are potentially significant competitive advantages to be gained from cheating.

A new test will soon be carried out in Oberhof, Germany, and now the IBU and FIS have postponed the final decision on a fluoride ban until the autumn.

As recently as May, FIS and the IBU thought they would now be ready to impose a total ban on fluoride next season.

The expert groups working on developing the handheld test apparatus, including the head of the Norwegian biathlon team Tobias Dahl Fenre, believe this is entirely unrealistic. They are clear: the device is still far from reliable to ensure fair and predictable competition.

Dahl Fenre has been involved in developing and testing the handheld device since its inception in 2020 and is not impressed with the progress of introducing a total ban from next season.

The latest test in June was disappointing. There, the testers confirmed their hypotheses that it is easy to cheat the machine and potentially substantial competitive advantages to gain from cheating.

They now fear a real wild west when the season starts if the fluoride ban is introduced on a full scale for the winter.

“It will be insane chaos. As far as I know, no rule has ever been adopted in any sport that is so complicated, which has such great consequences for the implementation of competitions, and where so few of those affected and involved know how it works,” says Norway’s waxing manager Tobias Dahl Fenre to langrenn.com.

Dahl Fenre was one of several experts who came with devastating criticism of the device after testing in Sjusjøen and Bruksvallarna in April. Both the FIS and the IBU had representatives present during these tests.

“When we started testing in April, we came in with some fears and hypotheses: That you could cheat the device by covering fluoride products with legal products and cheating the machine in this way would give a significant competitive advantage. We were able to confirm this, but we did not go far enough then to find out if it was possible to recreate the results or if it would provide a significant competitive advantage. We assumed that, but we could not be completely sure,” says Dahl Fenre to Langrenn.com.

And it turned out to be the same at the tests in Ramsau in June.

“If you mask fluorine powder by, for example, placing a liquid fluorine-free product or fluorine-free powder on top, you can achieve a competitive advantage from several seconds up to minutes,” says Dahl Fenre.

Therefore, the expert groups in the IBU and FIS have now formulated four specific requirements that the international federations must meet before a total ban can be introduced.

The requirements are:

• Availability: There must be enough fluoride test devices, and it must be possible to have them
• False-positive tests: Many fluoride-free and legal products can be tested positive
• False-negative tests: It’s too easy to cheat (and too much to gain from it)
• Logistics implementation during competitions: How should it happen?

These requirements will be considered at the upcoming test meeting in Oberhof next week.

“The most important thing is accessibility. We are 100 percent dependent on enough devices being produced, that you get them ordered and that they are delivered, and that they are used adequately. But that’s a situation: You do not want to invest SEK 300,000 in each test device if you do not know that the ban will be introduced and that the equipment will be used,” says Dahl Fenre.

Following the FIS Congress in Milan at the end of May, the FIS Board concluded that they must reconsider the introduction of the ban in the autumn after further tests in the summer. Now the IBU board announced the same after its board meeting this week.

According to Dahl Fenre, the latest tests recently carried out on the alpine device show some progress. But much will depend on the report of experts and national team players from the various nations on what they experienced during the test session in Oberhof, from July 11 to 13.

After the tests at Oberhof, the expert groups will spend the rest of July analyzing the information and data collected from these tests and previous tests. Based on its report, the IBU will decide on whether to impose a total ban next season during the board meeting on August 15.

But the four demands are so extensive and severe that Dahl Fenre doubts whether it will also be possible to introduce a total ban this season.

And the challenge lies both in the fact of building the test devices, but it is also due to the current world situation to get parts. But not least, it will be a battle against the clock to finish the software for the test unit in time.

“There are over 5000 variants of legal products in circulation today, and new ones are constantly being manufactured. Every time a new one is launched, it must be measured so that the machine can learn that it is good. And every time you mix two or more products, the new combination must be tested and registered,” says Dahl Fenre.