Mon, September 01, 2025
Norway’s Olympic champion ski jumpers handed bans for suit-tampering
Norwegian Olympic champion ski jumpers Marius Lindvik and Johann Forfang have been suspended for 3 months for suit-tampering despite claiming that they were unaware that two coaches and a service staff member had manipulated their suits.
Last month, the International Ski Federation (FIS) revealed that Lindvik and Forfang, as well as three team members had been charged with tampering with the athletes’ ski suits during the World Championships in Trondheim which took place between February 26 - March 9, 2025. The team members conceded to intentionally doing so after being caught, but the athletes themselves said that they did not know about the manipulation.
The team members charged were former Head Coach Magnus Brevik, assistant Thomas Lobben and service team member Adrian Livelten. They were all provisionally suspended in March, athletes included. Brevik, Lobben and Livelten had their contracts officially terminated in May.
There were secret recordings of Brevik and Livelten tampering with suits to increase surface area, by adding extra seams for example, after the suits passed official inspection.
The suits were manipulated to enhance aerodynamic resistance so that the jumpers could soar through the air for longer, and this was noticed after the men’s large hill event where Lindvik came second and Forfang fourth. The alterations could be confirmed only by tearing apart the seams of the crotch area on the Norwegian ski suits, according to CNN.
Despite the fact that the Norwegian Ski Federation stated that the jumpers were unaware that the coaches and service staff member had manipulated their suits, the FIS Ethics Committee has ruled that the jumpers still breached competition rules by failing to question the adjustments to their suits. They were not charged with actual knowledge of the manipulations, however:
“Johann Forfang and Marius Lindvik are therefore willing to accept the proposed sanctions of a period of ineligibility of three months, from which the period of the provisional suspension already served shall be deducted.” The athletes have also agreed to pay fines of 2,000 Swiss francs (£1,800) each.
“The case shows that routines for communication between the support staff handling equipment and suits and the athletes should be improved to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future,” their lawyers said.
Despite this, both will be eligible to compete at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
The settlement agreement can be found here.
