Fri, August 15, 2025
Norwegian ski jumpers accused of deliberately tampering with kit
The International Ski Federation (FIS) has revealed that Norwegian Olympic champion ski jumpers Marius Lindvik and Johann Forfang, as well as three team members have 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 have conceded to intentionally doing so after being caught, but the athletes themselves have said that they did not know about the manipulation.
The suits were manipulated to increase surface area and enhance aerodynamic resistance. This was noticed after the men’s large hill event where Lindvik came second and Forfang fourth.
The team members charged include former Head Coach Magnus Brevik, assistant Thomas Lobben and service team member Adrian Livelten. They were all provisionally suspended in March. 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 alterations could be confirmed only by tearing apart the seams of the crotch area on the Norwegian ski suits, according to CNN.
38 witness interviews were conducted and 88 pieces of evidence analysed during the FIS investigation.
The former Head Coach expressed: “We regret it like dogs, and I'm terribly sorry that this happened.” He said the decision was made “knowing that this [was] not within the regulations, but with a belief that it would not be discovered by FIS's equipment controller.”
Head of the Norwegian ski jumping team, Jan-Erik Aalbu, stated: “The way I consider this. We have cheated. We have tried to cheat the system. That is unacceptable.”
However, Aalbu also voiced: “We have listened to our athletes and believe them when they say they did not know about the manipulation of the ski suits. There is no evidence that they were aware of the manipulation that took place. We therefore disagree with FIS's assessment that there are grounds to bring a case against Forfang and Lindvik, but we respect the process.”
If found guilty, the athletes could lose results and medals and miss out on the next Winter Olympics in less than six months. The FIS Ethics Committee will reach a verdict no later than 30 days after the hearing process is concluded.
FIS has tightened up its rules on ski jump suits, something which caused numerous disqualifications when athletes gathered for the first competition of the new season on Saturday. FIS said that was down to technical issues and it didn’t suspect “ill intent,” as reported by CNN.
The official FIS statement can be found here.
