The FIS Council held its Spring Meeting at the Hotel Croatia in Cavtat-Dubrovnik (CRO) on Monday 10th June 2013 and dealt with a full agenda, including regular items such as reports from Organising Committees of the FIS World Championships, Olympic Winter Games and Youth Olympic Games, appointment of technical officials, proposals from the FIS Technical Committees, FIS World Cup calendars and updates to various rules.

Other key matters addressed by the Council during the Meeting included the television and marketing rights for the FIS World Championships in the Alpine and Nordic events for 2019 and 2021, appointment of key sponsors and partners for FIS properties, and the organisation of the FIS Development Programme.

The main decisions of the Council in Cavtat-Dubrovnik are as follows:

FIS World Cup calendars 2012/2013 to 2016/2017

Minor modifications to the FIS World Cup Calendars for the 2013/2014 season proposed by the respective Technical Committees were approved, as well as the calendar drafts until 2016/17 for Alpine Skiing, all of which are available on the FIS website.

Of note in the FIS Alpine World Cup calendar 2013/14 for men, is the change in format to the alpine combined that will be carried out in Kitzbühel. The race will take place on Friday 24nd January and consist of the traditional super-G in the morning that will count as a race in its own right and then added to a one-run slalom that will take place in the afternoon to generate the results of the alpine combined.

Alpine Skiing

A super combined competition will be included in the programme of the Alpine Junior World Ski Championships, whilst the nations team event will part of the calculation of the Marc Hodler Trophy.

The proposal to have the possibility to carry out a World Cup race in a technical discipline in only one run in case of force majeure was tabled for further discussion by the Committees concerned.

FIS Staff

Günter Hujara will step down as Men’s Alpine Chief Race Director at the end of the 2013/14 season. He will continue to work for FIS on a part-time basis handling different projects including safety aspects, supporting the Organising Committee of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, as well as other areas arising.

Markus Waldner, Alpine Continental Coordinator since 1998 will take over the position of Men’s Alpine Chief Race Director.

Jan Tischhauser, Ladies Alpine Race Director for the speed events, will retire at the end of the 2013/14 Olympic season after working 21 years for FIS, since 1993.

Jenny Wiedeke has been appointed as FIS Communications Manager, succeeding Riikka Rakic who has decided to leave FIS after more than seven years of service to spend more time with her young family.

FIS Athletes Commission

The members of the Athletes Commission 2013 - 2015 were confirmed: Cross-Country Skiing: Kikkan Randall (USA), Oystein Pettersen (NOR); Ski Jumping: Sabrina Windmüller (SUI), Kamil Stoch (POL); Nordic Combined: Alessandro Pittin (ITA); Alpine Skiing: Veronika Velez-Zuzulova (SVK), Jessica Lindell-Vikarby (SWE), Julien Lizeroux (FRA), Michael Janyk (CAN), Freestyle Skiing: Lydia Lassila (AUS), Filip Flisar (SLO); Snowboard: Marion Kreiner (AUT), Konstantin Schad (GER). During their first meeting the Committee appointed Kikkan Randall (Cross-Country Skiing, USA) as their chairperson.

FIS World Championships and Junior World Championships

Hafjell (NOR) was appointed as Organiser of the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships 2015. This is also designed to serve as a “test event” for the 2016 Youth Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer.

The Council confirmed the Candidates for the FIS World Championships in 2018 and 2019 as well as the procedure for the election on 5th June 2014 in Barcelona (SPA).

Olympic Winter Games

The update report was received from Sochi 2014 and the progress with completion of the venues as well as the outcome of the FIS World Cup and European Cup competitions during 2012/13 were positively received. Confirmation of the appointment of most Sochi 2014 key technical officials was made, with the exception of Cross-Country Skiing.

Television and Marketing Rights

Infront Sports and Media was awarded the television and marketing rights for the FIS World Ski Championships in the Alpine and Nordic Events for 2019 and 2021.

Sponsorship at events by commercial betting companies will be permitted. However, advertising on or with athletes (head sponsors, competition suits, starting bibs) is prohibited. Furthermore, FIS title and presenting sponsor rights will not be awarded to commercial betting companies.

Technical Committees

Various updates to the International Competition Rules (ICR) were made. A more detailed summary will be published in the next edition FIS Newsflash. Of note are the following:

Affiliation of FIS

The Dominica Ski Association, Timor Leste Ski Association and Singapore Snowboarding and Skiing Association were accepted as provisional members of FIS. Furthermore, it granted provisional membership to the all of which are subject to official approval by the FIS Congress in 2014. The suspension of the Bolivian Ski Association was lifted after the re-organisation and election of officials.

Bring Children to Snow Campaign - FIS World Snow Day

The third FIS World Snow Day will take place on 19th January 2014 after 435’000 participants took place in the second edition, which was nearly double the number of the inaugural event. Audi has stepped in as a new partner of the campaign to jointly develop projects within the programme.

FIS
Monday 10 June 2013