Martin Johnsrud Sundby

Martin Johnsrud Sundby (born 26 September 1984) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier who competed between 2003 and 2021. He is a two time Olympic champion at the 2018 Winter Olympics in the team sprint and relay and was also a silver and bronze medalist in the 30 km skiathlon in 2014 and 2018. Sundby is a 4-time world champion, winning his sole individual gold medal at the 15 km at the 2019 Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld. In 2014, he became the first Norwegian to win the Tour de Ski, a feat he repeated in 2016. He also won the overall world cup in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Career

Sundby got his international breakthrough when he won his first individual victory on 30 November 2008 in Kuusamo, Finland. The victory was regarded as a major surprise, despite Sundby delivering several solid displays in earlier races. At lower levels, Sundby has won a junior sprint event in 2003, a 30 km Scandinavian Cup race in 2007, and a 10 km FIS race in 2007. He later won the team sprint event at the test event in Liberec, Czech Republic on 17 February 2008.

Sundby and compatriot Therese Johaug became the first Norwegians to win the Tour de Ski when they won the men's and women' competitions in the 2013–14 edition of the race.^[2] Sundby subsequently won the overall and distance competitions in the 2013–14 FIS Cross-Country World Cup.^[3] He also won the 2016 Tour de Ski. In addition to his Tour de Ski victories, Sundby won the inaugural Ski Tour Canada, despite starting behind Sergey Ustiugov and Petter Northug on the final stage.^[4]

Doping violation

In January 2015 Norwegian Ski Federation "was informed that Johnsrud Sundby had crossed the legal limit, the so called 'decision limit', in regard to the use of" [salbutamol trademarked as] Ventolin; the federation should have acted then, is the opinion of Fredrik Aukland, NRK's expert on crosscountry skiing.^[5]

On 20 July 2016 Johnsrud Sundby was banned from competition for two months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for an anti-doping rule violation.^[6] His use of asthma medication salbutamol, resulted in test levels of urine sample, exceeding the very high 1000 ng/ml limits set in the anti-doping rules by 35% for two samples collected in competition, on 13 December 2014 and 8 January 2015.^[6] The facts of the case were undisputed and the decision focused on the meaning of the term "inhaled salbutamol", specifically whether the 1600 μg per day limit referred to the "labelled dose" or the "delivered dose". The CAS panel decided that the intended meaning was the former, but criticised the drafting of the rule. For this and other reasons, including that Johnsrud Sundby declared salbutamol at the time of the test, the panel found his degree of fault light and opted for a short sanction.^[6] As the tests were taken in competition, the two results were automatically stripped. This led to Johnsrud Sundby losing the 2015 Tour de Ski title and the overall world cup title for the 2014–15 season. Apart from the subsequent stages of the 2015 Tour de Ski, no other results were affected. His short suspension took place in summer months outside the competitive skiing season.^[6][7][8]

At a 21 October 2016 national convention of Norwegian Ski Federation (NSF), some of the local representatives had a critical view on the federation having compensated Johnsrud Sundby for his loss of prize money due to his breaking the rules against doping.^[9]

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).^[10]

Olympic Games

• 5 medals – (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)

World Championships

• 9 medals – (4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)

World Cup

Season titles

• 6 titles – (3 overall, 3 distance)

Season standings

Individual podiums

• 30 victories (19 WC, 11 SWC)
• 74 podiums (43 WC, 31 SWC)

Team podiums

• 14 victories (13 RL, 1 TS)
• 18 podiums (17 RL, 1 TS)

References

1. ^ Norway Olympic Team and Media Guide Sochi 2014. Norway: Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports. 2014. p. 45.
2. ^ "Johaug and Sundby of Norway win Tour de Ski". Yahoo! Sports. 5 January 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
3. ^ "Therese Johaug and Martin Johnsrud Sundby races into record books". Fédération Internationale de Ski. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
4. ^ "Johaug and Sundby claim titles as Ski Tour Canada ends Cross-Country World Cup season". FIS-Ski. 16 March 2016. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
5. ^ Overraskende at ledelsen har sovet så lenge, 20 October 2016
6. ^ Court of Arbitration for Sport: 20.07.16 – CROSS COUNTRY SKIING – CAS decision concerning Martin Johnsrud Sundby Archived 2019-01-08 at the Wayback Machine, 20 July 2016
7. ^ Norske skidstjärnan fast för dopningsbrott
8. ^ FIS: Update on Cross-Country rankings after CAS Sundby decision Archived 2016-07-21 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 26 July 2016.
9. ^ "Johaug-saken skal granskes av astma-utvalget". 21 October 2016.
10. ^ "SUNDBY Martin Johnsrud". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 6 January 2020.