Lund, 26, will miss this weekend's World Cup race in Germany because he has been placed on provisional suspension pending a hearing, which will likely take place Jan. 20.

"I have an excellent case and an excellent lawyer," Lund told The Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday afternoon.

"We can prove this was an accident, a complete and harmless accident. I know I am a good person. I didn't cheat and I know it."

Lund said he was informed a few days before Christmas that he had tested positive for the hair-restoration drug Finasteride, considered a masking agent. He said he has taken Proscar since 2004 and a hair-restoration product called Propecia since 1999. Lund said he will return to the United States on Saturday and begin to fight the suspension.

His former coach, Randy Will, who retired after the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City to open a pizza parlor, said what has happened to Lund reminds him of what happend to U.S. bobsledder Brian Shimer prior to the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan. In 1998, tests found an abnormally high ratio of testosterone in Shimer's body. Shimer went under similar scrutiny and was eventually cleared.

Shimer competed in the Nagano Games in 1998 and was selected by his teammates to carry the American flag in the closing ceremonies at the 2002 Games at Rice-Eccles Stadium.