SOCHI, February 11./ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Olympic Committee will file a motion to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne after the International Ski Federation (FIS) turned down a petition by the Russian national team challenging the results of Sunday’s event in men’s skiathlon at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Yelena Vyalge, the head of the Russian Cross-country Ski Federation told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
On Sunday, February 9, Russian racer Maxim Vylegzhanin took the fourth place in men’s skiathlon 30 km race, losing 0.1 seconds Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway, who got bronze as a result. The Russian team filed a complaint with the Olympic review board, claiming that Sundby had cut up Vylegzhanin at the very end of the finishing gate. One-tenth of a second might have been lost to the Norwegian precisely because of his maneuver, the petition said. The petition was turned down and the Russian team appealed to the International Ski Federation, which finally refused to disqualify the Norwegian skier.
“Lawyers of the Russian Olympic Committee are looking at filing an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne,” Vyalbe said. “In case they decide not to do, the Russian Cross-country Ski Federation will make this step. I am set to bring this issue to a logical end.