The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2001 took place February 15–25, 2001 in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

, 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 1991 championships, 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 () 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 The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

the following year.

Men's cross-country

1 km individual sprint

February 21. 2001

15 km classical

February 15, 2001 Finnish skier Jari Isometsä finished fourth, but was disqualified for using plasma expanders.

10 km + 10 km combined pursuit

February 17, 2001 Finland's

Jari Isometsä Jari Olavi Isometsä (born 11 September 1968) is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1990 to 2006. He won three bronze medals in the 4 × 10 km relay at the Winter Olympics (1992, 1994, 1998). Isometsä also won four med ...

finished second, but was disqualified for using of plasma expanders.

30 km classical

February 19, 2001

50 km freestyle

February 25, 2001

4 × 10 km relay

February 22, 2001 The Finnish team finished first, but was disqualified when Janne Immonen, Mika Myllylä and Harri Kirvesniemi tested positive for doping.

Women's cross-country

1 km individual sprint

February 21, 2001

10 km classical

February 20, 2001

5 km + 5 km combined pursuit

February 18, 2001

15 km classical

February 15, 2001

4 × 5 km relay

February 23, 2001 The Finnish relay team finished second, but was disqualified when Milla Jauho and

Virpi Kuitunen Virpi Katriina Sarasvuo (née Kuitunen, born 20 May 1976) is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1995 to 2010. She won a bronze medal in the team sprint event (with Aino-Kaisa Saarinen) at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and ...

were tested positive for doping.

Men's Nordic combined

7.5 km sprint

February 24, 2001

15 km Individual Gundersen

February 15, 2001 Vik becomes the first repeat world champion in this event since

Oddbjørn Hagen Oddbjørn Hagen (3 February 1908 – 25 June 1983) was a Norwegian skier who competed in nordic combined and cross-country skiing. He was both Olympic and World champion. Olympic Games At the 1936 Winter Olympics, Hagen won one gold in the Nordi ...

did it in 1934 and 1935.

4 × 5 km team

February 20, 2001

Men's ski jumping

Individual normal hill

February 23, 2001

Individual large hill

February 19, 2001

Team normal hill

February 25, 2001

Team large hill

February 21, 2001

Doping controversy

The 2001 Doping Scandal in Lahti ( fi) saw six Finnish cross-country skiers testing positive for doping, referred to as the "Lahti Six". On 18 February,

tested positive for use of

hydroxyethyl starch Hydroxyethyl starch (HES/HAES), sold under the brand name Voluven among others, is a nonionic starch derivative, used as a volume expander in intravenous therapy. The use of HES on critically ill patients is associated with an increased risk of ...

(HES), a banned

blood plasma Blood plasma is a light amber-colored liquid component of blood in which blood cells are absent, but contains proteins and other constituents of whole blood in suspension. It makes up about 55% of the body's total blood volume. It is the intra ...

expander. The test was carried out after the 15 km classical race, before the 10+10 km pursuit where Isometsä placed second. Isometsä admitted to using the HES product Hemohes and was immediately suspended. The Finnish relay teams won gold in the men's race and silver in the women's race. However, it was revealed on 25 February, the last day of the championships, that Janne Immonen also had tested positive for using HES. This led to the disqualification of the men's relay team (Norway thus won the gold medal). After further testing, four more cross-country skiers provided positive doping tests:

Harri Kirvesniemi Harri Tapani Kirvesniemi (born 10 May 1958, in Mikkeli) is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1980 to 2001. During his career he won six Olympic medals (all bronzes), and also the 50 km event at the Holmenkollen ski fest ...

and

Mika Myllylä Mika Kristian Myllylä (12 September 1969 – 5 July 2011) was a Finnish cross-country skier who competed from 1992 to 2005. He won six medals at the Winter Olympics, earning one gold (1998: 30 km), one silver (1994: 50 km), and four br ...

, Milla Jauho and

. The Finnish women's relay team was thus also disqualified, although Kuitunen was allowed to retain her gold medal in the 5+5 km pursuit. Kirvesniemi retired while the others served two year suspensions. The revelations led to the resignation of the medical staff of the cross-country team, and also the team leadership such as head coach Kari-Pekka Kyrö. Coinciding with the doping tests, Finnish newspaper ''

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...

'' revealed on 26 February that a woman had found a suspicious bag at a

petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gaso ...

near

Helsinki Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. ...

. The bag contained several vials with what was later revealed to be HES-products and other products such as

adrenaline Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands and ...

and

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

medicines. The incident occurred after the last World Cup races before the championships, held in

Otepää Otepää (formerly Nuustaku) is a town in Valga County, southern Estonia, it is the administrative centre of Otepää Parish. Otepää is a popular skiing resort, popularly known as the "winter capital" of Estonia (in contrast to the "summer ca ...

in Estonia only a week before the opening. This incident, along with the doping disqualifications of

Olga Danilova Olga Valeryevna Danilova ( Russian: Ольга Валерьевна Данилова; born 10 June 1970 in Bugulma, Tatar ASSR) is a Russian cross-country skier who competed from 1991 until she was banned for using performance-enhancing drugs i ...

Larisa Lazutina Larisa Yevgenyevna Lazutina (russian: Лариса Евгеньевна Лазутина; née Ptitsyna, born 1 June 1965) is a Russian former professional cross-country skier. Career Lazutina was awarded the Holmenkollen medal in 1998 (shared ...

, and

Johann Mühlegg Johann Mühlegg (born 8 November 1970 in Ostallgäu, Germany) is a former top level cross-country skier who competed in international competitions first representing Germany and then Spain, after becoming a Spanish citizen in 1999. He was exclude ...

at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

and

Kaisa Varis Kaisa Varis (born 21 September 1975, in Ilomantsi) is a Finnish retired cross-country skier and biathlete. Her career has been marred by doping convictions: as a cross-country skier, she was involved but not suspended in a doping scandal and in 2 ...

at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2003 The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2003 took place February 18 – March 1, 2003 in Val di Fiemme, Italy for a second time (1991). The ski jumping team normal hill held in 2001 was not held at this championships while the women's 30 km returned ...

Val di Fiemme 300px, Location of the Fiemme Valley in Trentino. 300px, The Passo_Lusia.html"_;"title="Lagorai_seen_from_Passo_Lusia">Lagorai_seen_from_Passo_Lusia. Fiemme_Valley_(_it.html" ;"title="Passo_Lusia..html" ;"title="Passo_Lusia.html" ;"title="Lagora ...

, would force the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

and the

International Ski Federation The ''Fédération internationale de ski et de snowboard'' (FIS; en, International Ski and Snowboard Federation) is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. Founded on 2 February 1924 in Chamonix, France during the ...

to tighten up their drug testing procedures. Incidentally, all of these skiers took individual medals during the 2001 championships. Varis was also part of the disqualified Finnish women's relay team in 2001, although she retained an individual bronze medal. Doping concerns were also strongly mentioned at the opening and closing ceremonies of the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

in Turin.

Medal table

Medal winners by nation.

References

FIS 2001 Cross country results
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070930132353/http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/medg/mgjp12/mgwsc.html?category=§or=JP&season=2001&nbr=4&search=Search FIS 2001 Ski jumping resultsbr>March 14, 2003 announcement of Finnish skier Kaisa Varis's drug test failure. Details on 2001 skiers.

External links

{{Nordic skiing World Championships FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

Nordic Skiing Nordic skiing encompasses the various types of skiing in which the toe of the ski boot is fixed to the Ski binding, binding in a manner that allows the heel to rise off the ski, unlike alpine skiing, where the boot is attached to the ski from toe ...

2001 in Finnish sport 2001 in Nordic combined 2001 in cross-country skiing 2001 in ski jumping February 2001 sports events in Europe Nordic skiing competitions in Finland Sports competitions in Lahti