Kilian Albrecht (BUL) is one of the male Alpine Skiing representatives on the FIS Athletes' Commission and was recently elected Chair of the Commission by its members. The 36-year-old slalom specialist made his World Cup debut in December 1994 in Tignes (FRA). His career highlights include 4th place finish in the Olympic slalom in 2002 in Salt Lake City (USA), along with two World Cup podium and 18 top ten finishes during his long career. Kilian is currently training for his second Olympic Games in Vancouver in February 2010.

Kilian Albrecht at the BFSki official season closing ceremony 2008/2009

FIS Newsflash: What does it mean to you to have been elected on the FIS Athletes Commission and, most recently, as its Chair for the 2009-13 period?

Kilian Albrecht: It was an honor for me to receive this vote of approval from my peers. I hope that I will be able to lead this group in a very positive and constructive way. I know that I have the support of the other Commission members and I really hope that we, together with FIS, ski industry, World Cup organizers, media, officials and so on, will all pull on the same rope. Our goal is to develop the sport together with the governing body of our sport to be better recognized worldwide.

FIS Newsflash: What are your goals with the Athletes Commission?

Kilian Albrecht: The main goal is to be there for the athletes. When they have problems they should be able to approach us and we should be able to help them. That is why we first need to establish the ways to influence and make sure the athletes' voice is heard which so far is not really the case but it is our job to change that. We want to make sure that the athletes can do their job in decent conditions. We also want to promote our sport and work together with the other stakeholders to lift our sport on a higher level.

FIS Newsflash: What was your first impression from the Commission's first meeting and the FIS Committee Meetings in Dubrovnik?

Kilian Albrecht: I was very happy to see that all 12 athletes representative were present, even those from New Zealand, Alaska and Canada. Our meeting was really inspiring and it was interesting to see that we all are facing the same problems and have the same issues across the disciplines. Unfortunately four hours of discussion were not enough and we already had another two-hour conference call just last week where we could continue to work on our issues and discuss the different topics which are important to us. Another conference call is scheduled for September.

Besides our meeting I was able to attend the Alpine World Cup Sub-Committee meeting in Croatia. Honestly I was a little bit surprised about that but it seems that most of the decisions are made in pre-meetings respectively other preparatory discussions. So it was interesting to see it from the inside.

FIS: Beside your work in the Athletes Commission how are you preparing for the Olympic season?

Kilian Albrecht: I have been skiing in Kaunertal (AUT) for 6 days and at the Snowdome in Wittenburg (GER) for 4 days. In addition I have done lots of dry land training with focus on strength and coordination. I will head to the Southern hemisphere next month and will also do some races in Australia and New Zealand.

FIS news
19/07/2009

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