Zach Lund

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Medal record
Skeleton
World Championships
Bronze 2007 St. Moritz Men
Bronze 2008 Altenberg Mixed team

Zach Lund (born March 22, 1979) is an American skeleton racer who has competed since 2000. He won a two bronze medals at the FIBT World Championships with one in 2007 (men's skeleton) and one in 2008 (mixed bobsleigh-skeleton team event).

Contents

[edit] Personal life

Zach was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Zach currently attends Westminster College, Salt Lake City UT, and graduated from the Judge Memorial Catholic High School in 1998.

[edit] Doping controversy

Lund took part in the 2005-6 Skeleton World Cup, but did not compete in the 2006 Winter Olympics due to disqualification for using finasteride. He was stripped of his second place finish in the Calgary World Cup event after testing positive for this medication, and a one year suspension was issued on February 10, 2006.

Lund claims he was using finasteride to combat baldness and that he declared the use of the substance on medical forms. Records show that Lund had been using finasteride (in its commercial hair-restoration form, Propecia) for seven years until his suspension.[citation needed]

Finasteride has been on the banned list since 2005; Lund claims he last checked the list in 2004. "I've been losing my hair since I was a teenager and I've had a prescription for the last seven years and it was never an issue until this year," Lund told freestyle skiing analyst Nikki Stone (Yahoo! Sports, Feb. 10, 2006). "Whenever I've been tested, I always let them know that I was taking [Propecia]. I never had anything to hide."

A panel on the Court of Arbitration for Sport believed Lund and wrote in its ruling that "it was entirely satisfied that Mr. Lund was not a cheat...But, unfortunately, in 2005, he made a mistake." It has been suggested that he sign a promotional deal with Merck, the maker of Propecia.

He returned to the World Cup circuit in 2006 and won the overall World Cup title for the 2006-2007 season.

[edit] See also

[edit] References