Victoria Carl has mapped out her return to the Cross-Country World Cup. The German Olympic champion plans to race again at the World Cup in Trondheim in early December after serving a doping ban, and will sit out the season opener in Ruka, Finland, at the end of November. "I am really looking forward to it," the 31-year-old said, before addressing the past 18 months head-on: "Everyone makes mistakes. We are not machines. Everyone deserves a second chance – and I want to make the most of mine."
Gålå first, then Trondheim
Carl cannot go straight back to the top level. After such a long absence she lacks the FIS points required to start in the World Cup, so her first races will be FIS events in Gålå, Norway, from November 27 to 29 – the same weekend the World Cup opens in Ruka without her. If she collects the points she needs there, her World Cup return is set for Trondheim from December 4 to 6.
She says she is in good shape for it. Carl has been training with the German national team again since September, and the next step is the team's camp in Muonio, Finland, the traditional early-season stop for Nordic squads chasing the first snow of the winter.
The case: clenbuterol in cough medicine
Carl tested positive for clenbuterol, a drug used to treat respiratory conditions such as asthma, in a control in spring 2025. By her account, a German armed forces doctor treating her for a cough gave her the combination product Spasmo-Mucosolvan rather than the harmless Mucosolvan. She trusted the doctor and did not recognise the banned substance.
On April 2, 2026, the German Court of Arbitration for Sport banned her for 18 months. The panel found no significant negligence and stayed below the two years sought by Germany's national anti-doping agency NADA. With her provisional suspension from May 26, 2025 counted towards the sanction, the ban ends on November 25, 2026. The price was steep all the same: the Winter Olympics in northern Italy in February went ahead without her.
Cross-CountryVisa wall before Ruka: Finland moves to shut out Russian skiersWhat is at stake this winter
For the German Ski Association, getting Carl back is a significant boost. Before her suspension she was among the very best in the world: she won team sprint gold with Katharina Hennig at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, finished second in the overall World Cup in 2024/25 and has silver and bronze medals from World Championships.
Whether she can return to that level after so long without racing is an open question. Her schedule does at least give her a run-up to the highlight of the season, the Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, at the end of February 2027. Carl is also looking further ahead and has not ruled out competing at the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps.
First, though, comes Gålå. Only once the FIS points are secured there will the door open to a World Cup start in Trondheim on the first weekend of December.
