"We are again entering a long winter of FIS World Championships. Beginning with Sungwoo (KOR), we will have the first-ever FIS Snowboard World Championships in Asia in January. The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Val d'Isere will mark a break of 41 years since we were in France last. The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec (CZE) are the first time the Czech Republic hosts the Nordic events after becoming an independent nation. And in March, the FIS Freestyle World Championships will return to freestyle-crazy Japan, where Inawashiro will surely stage a great event. "

"On top of these major events, there are for the second time more than 6'000 competitions in the international FIS calendar. This is quite amazing as we have typically seen fewer event entries in the World Championship years. "

Referring to the all impervious topic of the weather, he remarked: "Snow-wise we are obviously hoping for a good winter. Statistically seen, a snow-rich winter in the Southern hemisphere is often followed by an equally snowy winter in the Northern hemisphere." He added: "So far we have not seen major implications from the global financial crisis on our operations and also hope that this will not have a negative impact on ski tourism this season."

"Additional highlights of this winter include the respective FIS Junior World Ski Championships along with the introduction of the so-called FIS Team Tour in Ski Jumping. The third edition of the FIS Tour de Ski for Cross-Country and the return at the Alpine Finals to the racing slopes that hosted the highly successful FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Are (SWE) two years ago must be mentioned here, too. We should also not forget the promotional event for the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup planned in downtown Moscow (RUS) right after New Year. This event has the potential to possibly spearhead a series of future city events closely followed by a FIS World Cup event in near-by mountain resorts. Regarding the Olympic Winter Games, there will be the final test events for five of the six FIS disciplines at the 2010 Olympic venues; other than for Alpine Skiing where the test events were held last season, this will be an important opportunity for VANOC to refine their planning and operations. And the IOC will announce the host of first-ever Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2012 in approximately a month's time."

Concerning the rule and sport management side, President Kasper commented: "We have hardly any major rule changes for this season. Noteworthy is only the reorganization of Nordic Combined for which the specific rule changes will be reviewed by the Council this weekend. This season serves in a certain respect as a test for the increased cooperation and evaluation of synergies derived from the combination of Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined. Finally, this season will see the continuation of implementation of ongoing FIS projects such as the Alpine World Cup optimization and our international campaign "Bring Children to the Snow."

FIS news
14.11.2008

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