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The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2001 took place February 15-25, 2001 in Lahti, Finland for a record sixth time, previous events being held in 1926, 1938, 1958, 1978 and 1989. These championships also saw the most event changes since the 1950s with the 5 km women and 10 km men's events being discontinued, the 10 km women and 15 km men's events return to their normal status for the first time since the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1991, the debut of a combined pursuit as a separate category (5 km + 5 km for women, 10 km + 10 km for men), the addition of the individual sprint race for both genders, and the debut of the ski jumping team normal hill event. Extremely cold weather (-23oC / -9oF) cancelled the women's 30 km event. The biggest controversy occurred when a doping scandal hit the host nation of Finland, resulting in six disqualifications. This would serve as a prelude to further doping cases in cross country skiing at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City the following year.
[edit] Men's cross country
[edit] 1 km individual sprint
February 21. 2001
[edit] 15 km classical
February 15, 2001
[edit] 10 km + 10 km combined pursuit
February 17, 2001
Finland's Jari Isometsä finished second, but was disqualified for blood doping.
[edit] 30 km classical
February 19, 2001
[edit] 50 km freestyle
February 25, 2001
[edit] 4 x 10 km relay
February 22, 2001
The Finnish team finished first, but was disqualified when Janne Immonen tested positive for doping.
[edit] Women's cross country
[edit] 1 km individual sprint
February 21, 2001
[edit] 10 km classical
February 20, 2001
[edit] 5 km + 5 km combined pursuit
February 18, 2001
[edit] 15 km classical
February 15, 2001
[edit] 4 x 5 km relay
February 23, 2001
The Finnish relay team finished second, but was disqualified when Virpi Kuitunen tested positive for doping.
[edit] Men's Nordic combined
[edit] 7.5 km sprint
February 24, 2001
[edit] 15 km Individual Gundersen
February 15, 2001
Vik becomes the first repeat world champion in this event since Oddbjørn Hagen did it in 1934 and 1935.
[edit] 4 x 5 km team
February 20, 2001
[edit] Men's ski jumping
[edit] Individual normal hill
February 23, 2001
[edit] Individual large hill
February 19, 2001
[edit] Team normal hill
February 25, 2001
[edit] Team large hill
February 21, 2001
[edit] Doping controversy
The six Finnish skiers affected, referred to in several cross country skiing publications [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] as the "Lahti Six" were four men (Janne Immonen, Jari Isometsä, Harri Kirvesniemi, and Mika Myllylä) and two women (Milla Jauho and Virpi Kuitunen). All six tested positive for hydroxyethyl starch, a banned blood plasma expander. Kirvesniemi retired while the others served two year suspensions. Kuitunen is the only one of the "Lahti Six" that is still competitive as of 2007, having earned a bronze in the women's team sprint at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
This incident, along with the doping disqualifications of Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, and Johann Mühlegg at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and Kaisa Varis at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2003 in Val di Fiemme, would force the International Olympic Committee and the International Ski Federation to tighten up their drug testing procedures. Doping concerns were also strongly mentioned at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.xcskiworld.com/news/OpEd/doping.htm
- ^ http://www.xcskiworld.com/news/OpEd/brenna.htm
- ^ http://www.cirkus.ee/portfolio/lahti.htm
- ^ http://www.sportsci.org/jour/0101/ss.htm
- ^ http://www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20031121IE6
- ^ http://www.fasterskier.com/news/0211News.html
- ^ http://www.skicountyusa.org/oldsite/Articles/2004_11/110504.htm
- ^ http://www.xcskiworld.com/news/Editor/editor_gold.htm
[edit] External links
Tor Arne Hetland, Norway
Cristian Zorzi, Italy
Per Elofsson, Sweden
Johann Mühlegg, Spain
Vitaly Denisov, Russia
Andrus Veerpalu, Estonia
René Sommerfeldt, Germany
Pirjo Manninen, Finland
Yuliya Chepalova, Russia
Felix Gottwald, Austria
Adam Małysz, Poland
