Today, Tuesday, June 1, the International Ski Federation, FIS, announces that they are postponing the ban of fluorinated ski waxes for one more year.
In November 2019, FIS decided to ban fluorinated ski waxes for all FIS disciplines from the 2020/2021 season. Developing a test machine to detect fluoride on the skis has been ongoing since then. In October 2020 FIS announced that they postponed the ban and today, FIS announced that the ban will be postponed until after the season 2021/2022.
FIS write like this on their website today, Tuesday, June 1:
Fluorinated Ski Wax Prohibition
“The full implementation of a Fluorine Tracker that will instantly detect the presence of fluorine wax on skis will be postponed until after the season 2021/2022. In the following season, the device will be further tested in the real implementation process during the competition season, without penalisation. The implementation process was unfortunately not possible to test during the last season due to the pandemic situation. Reports about the next steps in the development will be prepared for the Council for autumn 2021.”
“FIS maintains its commitment to developing a reliable test method which guarantees the integrity of its competitions.”