Estonian cross-country skier Andrus Veerpalu has been accused of doping in connection with Austrian sports manager Stefan Matschiner. | Credit: Delfi Sports Facebook
A November 2024 court settlement in Innsbruck, Austria, has brought Estonian cross-country skiing legend Andrus Veerpalu back into the spotlight. Austrian prosecutors offered Veerpalu a €700 fine to settle allegations that he blood-doped before winning gold at the 2009 World Championships in Liberec. He accepted.
Now, 17 years after Veerpalu’s victory, Austrian police documents obtained by Eesti Ekspress suggest it may have been achieved with the help of blood doping facilitated by Stefan Matschiner.
Veerpalu’s decorated career comes with two Olympic gold medals (2002, 2006) and two World Championship gold medals, making him Estonia’s most decorated cross-country skier. The 2009 World Championship gold — won at age 38 — is now under suspicion.
Austrian police documents allege that Veerpalu was a “personal acquaintance” of former Austrian track athlete sports agent Stefan Matschiner, who has been involved in doping himself. Matschiner claimed that he helped Veerpalu dope before the 2009 World Championships. Matschiner is a predecessor of doping doctor Mark Schmidt, who headed ‘Operation Aderlass.’
‘Operation Aderlass’ was a major blood doping scandal that erupted at the 2019 Nordic World Championships in Seefeld, Austria. Schmidt had orchestrated the operation, facilitating widespread blood transfusions and providing performance-enhancing drugs to athletes. The operation led to Austrian police arresting several cross-country skiers during the championships, including Veerpalu’s own son, Andreas Veerpalu. As a coach, Andrus Veerpalu himself was implicated, leading to a subsequent conviction by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) for his role. Veerpalu is currently serving his coaching ban.
Because Matschiner was not directly connected to the Estonian team in the Seefeld case, he was not called to testify in the CAS proceedings. Before the 2021 arbitration hearing, Veerpalu was given the opportunity to respond to Matschiner’s allegations in writing — but the documents never reached the wider public. They were only published in 2025 when Estonian investigative outlet Eesti Ekspress obtained them. The Austrian criminal case related to the 2009 allegations concluded separately in November 2024 with the Innsbruck settlement.
In 2011, shortly before retirement, Veerpalu tested positive for human growth hormone, and the FIS found him guilty. Veerpalu appealed to the CAS, which acquitted him in 2013 on technical grounds relating to the reliability of the test. He has never previously been convicted of blood doping.
Veerpalu is currently suspended by FIS for his coaching role in ‘Operation Aderlass.’ The November 2024 Innsbruck settlement related to the 2009 allegations is a separate matter.
Veerpalu has denied knowing the former owner of Mark Schmidt’s doping equipment, arguing that Matschiner’s claims that he assisted Veerpalu with doping are untrue.
Andrus Veerpalu is currently employed by the Ukrainian biathlon team. | Credit: Postimees Facebook