FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2001

2001 ski competition in Lahti, Finland

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2001

Official logo for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2001.

Host city| Lahti, Finland
Events| 18
Opening| 15 February 2001
Closing| 25 February 2001
Main venue| Salpausselkä
Website| Lahti2001.fi

<- 1999

2003 ->

Audience at the venue

The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2001 took place February 15–25, 2001 in Lahti, Finland, for a record sixth time, previous events having been 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 returning 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 (−23 °C (−9 °F)) 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.

## Men's cross-country

[edit]

### 1 km individual sprint

[edit]

February 21. 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Tor Arne Hetland (NOR) | 3.14.1
Silver  |  Cristian Zorzi (ITA) | 3.14.9
Bronze  |  Håvard Solbakken (NOR) | 3.15.6

### 15 km classical

[edit]

February 15, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Per Elofsson (SWE) | 39:26.0
Silver  |  Mathias Fredriksson (SWE) | 39:42.5
Bronze  |  Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset (NOR) | 39:49.3

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

### 10 km + 10 km combined pursuit

[edit]

February 17, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Per Elofsson (SWE) | 47:15.5
Silver  |  Johann Mühlegg (ESP) | 47:42.0
Bronze  |  Vitaly Denisov (RUS) | 47:49.5

Finland's Jari Isometsä finished second, but was disqualified for using of plasma expanders.

### 30 km classical

[edit]

February 19, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Andrus Veerpalu (EST) | 1:14:17.9
Silver  |  Frode Estil (NOR) | 1:14:18.1
Bronze  |  Mikhail Ivanov (RUS) | 1:14:49.1

### 50 km freestyle

[edit]

February 25, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Johann Mühlegg (ESP) | 2:05:27.2
Silver  |  René Sommerfeldt (GER) | 2:07:23.4
Bronze  |  Sergey Kriyanin (RUS) | 2:07:28.4

### 4 × 10 km relay

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February 22, 2001

Medal  | Team  | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Norway (Frode Estil, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Thomas Alsgaard, Tor Arne Hetland)  | 1:36:42.5
Silver  |  Sweden (Urban Lindgren, Mathias Fredriksson, Magnus Ingesson, Per Elofsson)  | 1:37:25.2
Bronze  |  Germany (Jens Filbrich, Andreas Schlütter, Ron Spanuth, René Sommerfeldt)  | 1:37:30.5

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

## Women's cross-country

[edit]

### 1 km individual sprint

[edit]

February 21, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Pirjo Manninen (FIN) | 3.41.5
Silver  |  Kati Sundqvist (FIN) | 3.43.1
Bronze  |  Yuliya Chepalova (RUS) | 3.43.5

### 10 km classical

[edit]

February 20, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Bente Skari (NOR) | 26:55.5
Silver  |  Olga Danilova (RUS) | 27:08.4
Bronze  |  Larisa Lazutina (RUS) | 27:27.0

### 5 km + 5 km combined pursuit

[edit]

February 18, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) | 28:06.1
Silver  |  Larisa Lazutina (RUS) | 28:08.9
Bronze  |  Olga Danilova (RUS) | 28:09.3

### 15 km classical

[edit]

February 15, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Bente Skari (NOR) | 43:54.8
Silver  |  Olga Danilova (RUS) | 44:02.5
Bronze  |  Kaisa Varis (FIN) | 44:57.5

### 4 × 5 km relay

[edit]

February 23, 2001

Medal  | Athlete  | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Russia (Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, Yuliya Chepalova, Nina Gavrylyuk)  | 53:01.6
Silver  |  Norway (Anita Moen, Bente Skari, Elin Nilsen, Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen)  | 54:01.9
Bronze  |  Italy (Gabriella Paruzzi, Sabina Valbusa, Stefania Belmondo, Cristina Paluselli)  | 54:23.3

The Finnish relay team finished second, but was disqualified when Milla Jauho and Virpi Kuitunen were tested positive for doping.

## Men's Nordic combined

[edit]

### 7.5 km sprint

[edit]

February 24, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Marco Baacke (GER) | 19:45.3
Silver  |  Samppa Lajunen (FIN) | \+ 6.2
Bronze  |  Ronny Ackermann (GER) | \+ 9.7

### 15 km Individual Gundersen

[edit]

February 15, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Bjarte Engen Vik (NOR) | 39:26.7
Silver  |  Samppa Lajunen (FIN) | 40:31.3
Bronze  |  Felix Gottwald (AUT) | 40:37.0

Vik becomes the first repeat world champion in this event since Oddbjørn Hagen did it in 1934 and 1935.

### 4 × 5 km team

[edit]

February 20, 2001

Medal  | Athlete  | Time

|
|

Gold  |  Norway (Kenneth Bråten, Sverre Rotevatn, Bjarte Engen Vik, Kristian Hammer)  | 50:14.1
Silver  |  Austria (Christoph Eugen, Mario Stecher, David Kreiner, Felix Gottwald)  | \+ 10.9
Bronze  |  Finland (Jari Mantila, Hannu Manninen, Jaakko Tallus, Samppa Lajunen)  | \+ 29.4

## Men's ski jumping

[edit]

### Individual normal hill

[edit]

February 23, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Points

|
|

Gold  |  Adam Małysz (POL) | 246.0
Silver  |  Martin Schmitt (GER) | 233.0
Bronze  |  Martin Höllwarth (AUT) | 223.0

### Individual large hill

[edit]

February 19, 2001

Medal | Athlete | Points

|
|

Gold  |  Martin Schmitt (GER) | 276.3
Silver  |  Adam Małysz (POL) | 273.5
Bronze  |  Janne Ahonen (FIN) | 267.4

### Team normal hill

[edit]

February 25, 2001

Medal  | Team  | Points

|
|

Gold  |  Austria (Wolfgang Loitzl, Andreas Goldberger, Stefan Horngacher, Martin Höllwarth)  | 953.5
Silver  |  Finland (Matti Hautamäki, Risto Jussilainen, Ville Kantee, Janne Ahonen)  | 951.5
Bronze  |  Germany (Sven Hannawald, Michael Uhrmann, Alexander Herr, Martin Schmitt)  | 911.5

### Team large hill

[edit]

February 21, 2001

Medal  | Athlete  | Points

|
|

Gold  |  Germany (Sven Hannawald, Michael Uhrmann, Alexander Herr, Martin Schmitt)  | 939.8
Silver  |  Finland (Risto Jussilainen, Jani Soininen, Ville Kantee, Janne Ahonen)  | 900.2
Bronze  |  Austria (Andreas Goldberger, Wolfgang Loitzl, Martin Höllwarth, Stefan Horngacher)  | 880.2

## Doping controversy

[edit]

The same doctor's bag that belonged to the Finnish Ski Association, which was eventually found at the petrol station

The 2001 Doping Scandal in Lahti (fi) saw six Finnish cross-country skiers testing positive for doping, referred to as the "Lahti Six".[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

On 18 February, Jari Isometsä tested positive for use of hydroxyethyl starch (HES), a banned blood plasma 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.[9]

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 and Mika Myllylä, Milla Jauho and Virpi Kuitunen. 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 revealed on 26 February that a woman had found a suspicious bag at a petrol station near Helsinki Airport. The bag contained several vials with what was later revealed to be HES-products and other products such as adrenaline and asthma medicines. The incident occurred after the last World Cup races before the championships, held in Otepää in Estonia only a week before the opening.[10]

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. 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 in Turin.

## Medal table

[edit]

Medal winners by nation.

* Host nation (Finland)

Rank| Nation| Gold| Silver| Bronze| Total

|
|
|
|
|

1|  Norway (NOR)| 6| 2| 2| 10
2|  Germany (GER)| 3| 2| 3| 8
3|  Finland (FIN)*| 2| 5| 3| 10
4|  Sweden (SWE)| 2| 2| 0| 4
5|  Russia (RUS)| 1| 3| 6| 10
6|  Austria (AUT)| 1| 1| 3| 5
7|  Poland (POL)| 1| 1| 0| 2
Spain (ESP)| 1| 1| 0| 2
9|  Estonia (EST)| 1| 0| 0| 1
10|  Italy (ITA)| 0| 1| 1| 2
Totals (10 entries)| 18| 18| 18| 54

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Amplified Content, LLC. "AXCS: Cross Country Skiing at". Xcskiworld.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
2. ^ Amplified Content, LLC. "AXCS: Cross Country Skiing at". Xcskiworld.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
3. ^ "I am looking for new challenges". Cirkus.ee. March 1, 2001. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
4. ^ "Doping Disaster for Finnish Ski Team". Sportsci.org. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
5. ^ "HS Sport 21.11.2003 – Former skiing head coach to be charged with smuggling and fraud". .hs.fi. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
6. ^ FasterSkier.com Archived September 2, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
7. ^ Ski County USA . org Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
8. ^ Amplified Content, LLC (February 24, 2002). "AXCS: Cross Country Skiing at". Xcskiworld.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
9. ^ "Den hemmelige saunakontrakten som skulle skjule finsk doping". January 2, 2017.
10. ^ "Dopingveske kan avsløre skandalen". VG. Retrieved June 14, 2020.

* FIS 2001 Cross country results
* FIS 2001 Nordic combined results
* FIS 2001 Ski jumping results
* March 14, 2003 announcement of Finnish skier Kaisa Varis's drug test failure. Details on 2001 skiers.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2001 at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
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FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

Championships|

* 1925 Janské Lázně
* 1926 Lahti
* 1927 Cortina d'Ampezzo
* 1929 Zakopane
* 1930 Oslo
* 1931 Oberhof
* 1933 Innsbruck
* 1934 Sollefteå
* 1935 Vysoké Tatry
* 1937 Chamonix
* 1938 Lahti
* 1939 Zakopane
* (1941 Cortina d'Ampezzo)
* 1950 Lake Placid/Rumford
* 1954 Falun
* 1958 Lahti
* 1962 Zakopane
* 1966 Oslo
* 1970 Vysoké Tatry
* 1974 Falun
* 1978 Lahti
* 1980 Falun
* 1982 Oslo
* 1984 Rovaniemi/Engelberg
* 1985 Seefeld
* 1987 Oberstdorf
* 1989 Lahti
* 1991 Val di Fiemme
* 1993 Falun
* 1995 Thunder Bay
* 1997 Trondheim
* 1999 Ramsau
* 2001 Lahti
* 2003 Val di Fiemme
* 2005 Oberstdorf
* 2007 Sapporo
* 2009 Liberec
* 2011 Oslo
* 2013 Val di Fiemme
* 2015 Falun
* 2017 Lahti
* 2019 Seefeld
* 2021 Oberstdorf
* 2023 Planica
* 2025 Trondheim
* 2027 Falun
* 2029 Lahti

Medalists|

* Cross-country (men)
* Cross-country (women)
* Nordic combined
* Ski jumping

*[NOR]: Norway
*[ITA]: Italy
*[SWE]: Sweden
*[ESP]: Spain
*[RUS]: Russia
*[EST]: Estonia
*[GER]: Germany
*[FIN]: Finland
*[AUT]: Austria
*[POL]: Poland
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