Baxter’s ski ban is lifted

Published on Saturday 17 August 2002 01:00

SCOTTISH skier Alain Baxter believes he is on the right road to clear his name.

The 28-year-old could be back in competitive action next week after the Court of Arbitration for Sport accepted that Baxter had retrospectively served two months of his ban in the previous skiing season.

The CAS also announced that the ban would be lifted tomorrow.

Baxter was stripped of his bronze medal in the Winter Olympics after failing a drugs test and was then given the temporary ban by skiing chiefs in June.

The Aviemore skier has lodged an appeal about the timescale of the competitive ban by the International Ski Federation (FIS).

The initial ruling would have prevented him from competing until December 15 this year.

Sitting in Lausanne, Switzerland, officials agreed that the calculations made by the FIS were incorrect and Baxter had already served most of the ban.

Baxter said: "I am delighted. This is the first step on the route to justice.

"Training has been going really well and this decision means that I can look forward to an immediate return to racing."