The disciplinary chamber of Swiss sport says that the doping sample and the analysis result are not usable. The proceedings against the athlete are discontinued.
Mountain biker Mathias Flückiger has been acquitted of all doping charges – this was the decision of the Swiss sports disciplinary body. The doping sample and analysis results were not usable. The proceedings were discontinued.
Immediately before the last World Cup race before the Olympic selection for Paris, this verdict is good news for Oberaargau mountain biker Mathias Flückiger (35). Almost two years after the tests, the disciplinary chamber of Swiss sports acquitted Flückiger of all allegations of Zeranol doping. Because the urine samples from June 5, 2022 and the corresponding analysis results were not usable.
What is less good for Flückiger is that the hearing took place on Wednesday before the races in Nove Mesto this week. Optimal preparation for the decisive cross-country race on Sunday looks different.
The disciplinary chamber’s ruling also means that Mathias Flückiger should never have been banned and the analysis results should never have been made public. The 2021 overall World Cup winner, 2020 Olympic silver medalist and Nino Schurter’s great rival was wrongly provisionally banned.
Procedural errors
It is not yet clear why Flückiger’s sample is not usable. Ultimately, Swiss Sports Integrity (SSI), the Swiss doping authority (and not the disciplinary chamber of Swiss sport, which made the decision), informed the court of the acquittal. The reasons for the verdict are still pending. However, it has long been clear that the zeranol value determined by the Lausanne laboratory was below the threshold value, and that it was therefore an “atypical sample”, as the laboratory also stated in its first report. Suspicions of procedural errors quickly arose.
The disciplinary chamber has now given Swiss Sports Integrity a resounding slap in the face. Since Mathias Flückiger’s statement in October 2023, nothing has happened in the proceedings for seven months. In recent days, however, the Swiss doping authority SSI has only been granted the Whitsun holidays plus two working days to study 3,152 pages of case files. A request to postpone the hearing by a week was rejected without explanation. And with the acquittal of Mathias Flückiger – in other words: with the decision that the doping sample cannot be used – another slap in the face for SSI followed. Swiss Sports Integrity says: “Our right to a fair hearing has been blatantly violated at least three times.”
Waiting for the verdict
For the SSI, Flückiger’s acquittal is incomprehensible and wrong. This position is also understandable, because now it is about finances and compensation, “although we do not know whether the athlete wants to go down this path or not,” as SSI director Ernst König states.
Now the wait for the reasons for the verdict begins. For Dr. Marco Steiner, the sports lawyer, it is clear that “Swiss Sports Integrity will probably have no choice but to refer the case to the CAS (the International Court of Arbitration for Sport).” Ernst König, the director of SSI, also assumes that “either we or another authority will refer the case further” – even if Ernst König regrets this.
Chronology
This means that the “Flückiger case” is far from over. The chronology now reads like this: On June 5, 2022, Mathias Flückiger was tested at the Swiss Championships in Leysin. On July 11, the analysis result from the Lausanne laboratory was available. On August 18, Mathias Flückiger was provisionally suspended by Swiss Sport Integrity. Four months later, on December 17, the Disciplinary Chamber lifted the provisional suspension. On August 17, 2023, one year after the provisional suspension was imposed, Swiss Sports Integrity applied to the Disciplinary Chamber to open disciplinary proceedings. This week, the first hearing took place before the Disciplinary Chamber (on Wednesday). Two days later, the Chamber decided that the sample and the analysis result were not usable.
«Happy and relieved»
Mathias Flückiger, who received the disciplinary chamber’s verdict first hand on Friday, also made a brief statement that evening. “I am extremely pleased, but above all relieved,” Flückiger explained through his media spokesperson. But now he wants to concentrate on the World Cup race in Nove Mesto – his last chance to force his way into the Summer Games in Paris.
Flückiger’s position has been clear since autumn 2022 anyway: Flückiger accused the cycling association and Swiss Sports Integrity (SSI) of procedural errors from the outset. The tiny amount found – below the threshold – had no performance-enhancing effect. SSI unfortunately did not follow the instructions of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) (and provisionally banned and pilloried him instead of conducting further investigations).
The amount of zeranol found in Mathias Flückiger’s A sample is significantly lower (0.3 ng/mL) than the threshold value for possible meat contamination (5 ng/mL).