👋 Hi, everybody! Last week kicked off the XXV Winter Olympic Games in Italy. Despite the historic snowstorm that hit the Eastern U.S. a few weeks ago, it’s been a warm winter in many places — a fact that casts an ominous shadow over this year’s Olympics, and the future of the winter sports on display. But we do have some good news to explore with you all in today’s main story. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, along with other regulatory bodies, has taken a major step toward eliminating the use of a certain class of toxic chemicals in skiing. 

For more sports news, we’ve got an environmental story about the Super Bowl (by which I mean the Bad Bunny concert), as well as some new projections for clean energy and a breakdown of the endangerment finding repeal. 

This post originally appeared in Grist’s weekly solutions newsletter, Looking Forward. Not on our list yet? Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Friday.  

Debuting at this year’s Olympics: A ban on toxic chemicals

A stack of fluorinated ski waxes sits in front of a black background

Jesse Nichols / Grist

In the world of elite sports, there have been plenty of examples of athletes willing to compromise their health for the sake of strength and speed. But at this year’s Winter Olympic Games, we’re seeing an example of the opposite — athletes willing to give up a key advantage in order to protect their own health and the pristine environments where they compete. 

In Italy, skiers and snowboarders are competing at the first Olympics without fluorinated ski waxes, which are now banned in international competitions.

“Flouros” became common in the ’80s, favored for their ability to repel water and dirt and make skis incredibly smooth and fast, as my colleagues Joseph Winters and Tik Root wrote this week. The ingredient that gave the waxes that superpower was PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, often known as “forever chemicals.” 

An athlete himself, Joseph found out about the ban from a teammate in a multisport relay race. “He mentioned something about the fluoro ban, and I was like, ‘Wait, fluoro as in fluorocarbons, as in this class of chemicals that I’ve reported on for the past several years?’” Joseph said. 

PFAS are a group of some 15,000 chemicals that have been used since the 1950s in a variety of household items like nonstick pans, clothing, and cosmetics. Joseph is one of many reporters who have been tracking how PFAS travel from those products into our environments, water systems, and bodies, as well as the research linking them to health issues, including various cancers and developmental damage. 

For skiers, “there’s nothing in the chemical world that I’m aware of that can replicate their hydrophobic and dirt-repelling properties,” said Tim Baucom, a professional wax technician. But, just like with other uses of PFAS, the chemicals travel — they get from the ski wax into the snow, contaminating the ecosystem and even flowing downstream into drinking water. Technicians like Baucom, exposed to particularly high concentrations through their work, bear some of the greatest risk. 

“Any time you’re breathing in fumes and smoke, no matter what it is, it’s probably not great for you,” said Baucom.

Amid mounting evidence that PFAS are harmful both for human health and the environment, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation officially banned the use of the chemicals in 2023.

“What Tik and I were drawn to in the story is how fast of a transition it was,” Joseph said. “And yes, sort of contentious, but not in the way that other environmental transitions have been — like the transition away from gas stoves, for example.” 

John Steel Hagenbuch, a cross country skier on the U.S. Ski Team, says professional skiers are struggling to adapt to non-fluorinated waxes. Hagenbuch says fast fluorinated waxes were often described as “a great equalizer.” Dustin Satloff / NCAA via Getty Images

Although views differ on how disruptive it will be for the sport, the ban by and large has been accepted. John Steel Hagenbuch, a cross-country skier making his Olympics debut this year, told Joseph and Tik that he supported the move. So did other skiers they talked to.

“For Tim and the other service technicians, and for me and for our groundwater and for the environment, yeah, I think it’s good that we don’t do fluoros,” Hagenbuch said, but admitted: “Do I miss them? Yeah, a little bit.”

If the community most affected by this ban has been quick to embrace it, it may be in part because of their passion for the environment. As Joseph told me, skiers have a particular connection to nature — as many outdoor athletes do. Giving up some speed may seem a small price to protect the slopes that make their beloved sport possible.  

Still, like any change, it needs to be enforced. And this one already has. Three competitors were disqualified from the games this week when their equipment tested positive for fluoros.

Dive deeper:

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In other news

And finally, looking forward to …

… a sustainable, and healthy, future for sports.    

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You come home from the gym exhausted, but satisfied. And excited. In just two weeks, you’ll be taking the bullet train the farthest you’ve ever gone, to compete in the Spring Olympics for the first time.

It’s not just a first for you. This is the first time your sport, rollerskiing, will be seen on the Olympic stage. You’re not expecting to get a medal or anything. But you can’t wait to ski on the new 100-mile bio-paved trail, right next to your country’s longest river, which you’ve always wanted to visit. This time of year, it should be beautiful. 

— a drabble by Claire Elise Thompson

🌷🏅🌷

A drabble is a 100-word piece of fiction — in this case, offering a tiny glimpse of what a clean, green, just future might look like. Want to try writing your own (and see it featured in a future newsletter)? We would love to hear from you! Please send us your visions for our climate future, in drabble form, at lookingforward@grist.org

👋 See you next week!