Nordic Roundup: Hurricane starts and biathlon doping

Nordic Roundup: Hurricane starts and biathlon doping{mosimage}Belarusian biathlete Svetlana Khandogina was banned for two years after testing positive for a masking agent, the International Biathlon Union said Friday. Khandogina was stripped of four medals she won at last month’s summer biathlon world championships in Slovakia.

The IBU said Khandogina tested positive for furosemide, which is classified as a masking agent, or diuretic, on the prohibited list of substances by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Khandogina said at a hearing that she was using medication containing furosemide to control a kidney disorder, but the IBU ruled that it could not give an exemption retroactively and banned her for two years. Neither the Belarusian team nor the IBU had been informed she was taking the medication.

Khandogina forfeited gold in the relay, silver in the pursuit and bronze medals in the sprint and mass start. -The Associated Press

FIS Adopts ‘Hurricane Start’ for Nordic Combined

In a story posted on fasterskier.com, John Aalberg reports that the FIS is introducing the ‘hurricane start’ to nordic combined competition. The new format is designed to be spectator friendly, as viewers will be able to identify who the leading skiers by their position.

The report states: ‘In the ‘hurricane start,’ each skier in the field will start simultaneously, but at different distances behind the start line. The winner of the jumping competition will start on the normal start line, while the rest of the field get a distance penalty determined by the points and time calculation from the jumping results. Each second lost from the hill (after calculating jumping points to skiing seconds) will give a 6-meter distance penalty when starting the cross-country race.”

This race format will first be introduced at the World Cup in Lahti, Finland this winter. Expect a maelstrom of contorversey if the race does not start smoothly.