Sochi, Feb 23 (IANS): The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Sunday dismissed the appeals of Canada and Slovenia to have the three French men’s ski cross medallists disqualified for wearing modified race suits.
A hearing held by the CAS ad-hoc division dismissed the protests filed against the outfits worn by Jean Frederic Chapuis, Arnaud Bovolenta and Jonathan Midol, who won gold, silver and bronze, respectively, reports Xinhua.
The first application to CAS came from the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association (CFSA) and Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and the second from the Slovenian Olympic Committee (SOC).
Each had made official protests to the International Ski Federation (FIS) about the legs of the ski suits worn by the French skiers.
However, FIS ruled that the protests could not be entertained because they were not “filed on time after the race”.
The CFSA, COC and SOC alleged that the French athletes changed their attire just before the big final to gain an aerodynamic advantage created by the shaping of the lower section of the ski pants, contrary to the International Freestyle Skiing Competition Rules.
Brady Leman of Canada finished fourth behind the French trio. Egor Korotkov of Russia was ranked fifth, followed by Filip Flisar of Slovenia in sixth.
