FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007

The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007 took place February 22 - March 4, 2007 in Sapporo, Japan. This was the second time this city has hosted these championships, doing so previously at the 1972 Winter Olympics, having been voted at the 43rd FIS World Congress in Portorož, Slovenia on June 6, 2002. It also marked the third time these championships were hosted outside of Europe (Lake Placid, New York, USA in 1950 and Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada in 1995 were the others.) in a non-Winter Olympic year, and the first that occurred in Asia. The ski jumping team nomal hill event was not held after being competed in 2005.

Highlights

*The big winner of the event was Finland's Virpi Kuitunen who won three golds (Team sprint, 30 km, and 4 x 5 km) and one bronze (Individual sprint).
*20-year old Astrid Jacobsen from Norway won three medals in women's cross country with a gold in the individual sprint and bronzes in the team sprint and 4 x 5 km.
*Lars Berger of Norway became the first person to win medals at both the biathlon and nordic skiing world championships in the same year with Nordic skiing golds in the 15 km and 4 x 10 km events and a silver in the 4 x 7.5 km biathlon relay in Rasen-Antholz, Italy in February.
*Indoor skiing was held for the first time at the Sapporo Dome with the cross country sprint and the Nordic combined sprint events.
*Germany's Ronny Ackermann became the first person to win the Nordic combined 15 km Individual Gundersen event in three straight championships.
*Hannu and Pirjo Manninen of Finland became the first brother and sister combination to win gold medals at the same championships with Hannu's wins in the Nordic combined 7.5 km sprint and 4 x 5 km team events and Pirjo's win in the women's 4 x 5 km cross country relay.
*Belarus earned their first championship medal with Leanid Karneyenka's surprise silver in the 15 km event.
*Petra Majdič of Slovenia earned her first championship medal and the first for the nation both for women and in cross country skiing.
*Switzerland's Simon Ammann won medals in both individual hill competitions (Silver: normal, gold: large) and had the longest jumps in the team large hill events.
*Adam Małysz of Poland won his fourth world championship gold medal with the largest victory in the history of the individual normal hill event, his third win in event of the last four championships.
*Despite being well run and well-organized, the championships attendance was only 90,000, mostly at the Sapporo Dome and the ski jumping hills of Miyanomori and Okurayama. This amount was only a third of what was there at the previous games at Oberstdorf.
*A record 697 doping tests were administered for the event, one of the largest in any international major sports outside of the Winter Olympics, including urine, EPO urine, blood, blood transfusion, and human growth hormone testing. One positive EPO urine control was found on Sergey Shiryayev, whose case resulted in a two-year suspension at the FIS Council meeting in Portorož, Slovenia in May 2007 (Two other coaches received sanctions from the Russian ski federation) [ [http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/newsinformation/pressreleases/press-releases-2007/doping-panel-may-sanctio.html FIS Doping Panel sanctions four athletes] ] , and nine start prohibitions were issued following pre-competition blood control. The cost for all FIS controls (827 total) was over CHF 1 million for the 2006-07 season at all skiing disciplines for all championships. [FIS Newsflash Edition 125. May 2, 2007.]

Mascot

The mascot of the championships was "Norkey," an Ezo deer (Ezo was the former name of Hokkaidō Island in Japan) named for combining the words "Nordic" and "ski" who wears a scarf in the symbol colors around his neck.

World Cup discipline leaders prior to the World Championships

As of February 16, 2007, the top three World Cup positions were as follows: [ [http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/disciplines/cross-country/cupstandings.html Men's cross country skiing World Cup standings] ] [ [http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/disciplines/cross-country/cupstandings.html?suchen=true&suchcompetitorid=&suchseason=2007&sector=CC&suchgender=L&suchcup=WC&suchnation=&discipline=ALL&search=Search Women's cross country skiing World Cup standings] ] [ [http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/disciplines/skijumping/cupstandings.html Ski jumping World Cup standings] ] [ [http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/disciplines/nordiccombined/cupstandings.html Nordic combined World Cup standings] ]

Medal table - women's cross country skiing

Doping controversy

On February 21, 2007, Sergey Shiryayev of Russia was involved in pre-competition testing for doping with a blood and urine sample. The blood sample in the "A-test" turned out high in hemoglobin, so the "B-test" was evaluated and confirmed to contain EPO. Shiryayev, who had his best finish of 11th in the 15 km event at the championships, was subsequently disqualified on March 4, 2007. FIS President Gian Franco Kasper expressed both disappointment in Shiriaev's doping actions and happiness in the efficiency of FIS's doping controls. [ [http://www.dsv-atlas.de/88-News-,e_29532.skixc,r_5496.htm Shiryayev tests positive for doping at the championships] de icon - Accessed March 4, 2007.] At the FIS Council Meeting in May 2007 at Portorož, Slovenia, [FIS Newsflash Edition 117. March 7, 2007.] Shiryayev received a two-year ban from FIS competition. (Two Russian coaches were also sanctioned, by the Russian ski federation.) [ [http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/newsinformation/pressreleases/press-releases-2007/doping-panel-may-sanctio.html FIS Doping Panel sanctions four athletes] ]

Post-Championship comments

FIS President Gian Franco Kasper expressed his thanks to the careful attention paid by FIS Vice-President (and Organizing Committee Chair) Yoshiro Ito over the detailed planning, arrangements, and execution of the championships, including television and Internet coverage. Kasper also expressed displeasure in the poor attendance of the events. [FIS Newsflash Edition 117. March 7, 2007.]

Medal table

References

External links

* [http://www.sapporo2007.com 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships official website] en icon & jp icon
* [http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?cal_suchsector=CC&event_id=22246 2007 FIS Cross country results]
* [http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?cal_suchsector=NK&event_id=22244 2007 FIS Nordic combined results]
* [http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?cal_suchsector=JP&event_id=22245 2007 FIS Ski jumping results]