06 June 2010 - 17:36 Decisions of the FIS Council Spring Meetings in Antalya (TUR)

The 2010 International Ski Congress was recognized as the centennial gathering of the FIS, 100 years after the very first meeting of the International Ski Commission in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway, on 18th February 1910.

The FIS Council completed its traditional spring meetings at the 47th International Ski Congress in Antalya (TUR), on Saturday 5th June with the first meeting of the new Council elected by the FIS General Assembly on Friday 4th June. The newly-elected Council elected by the Congress comprises eight new Members of the total of 16.

The Council unanimously elected the following four Vice-Presidents of the International Ski Federation:

Sverre Seeberg (NOR)
Janez Kocijancic (SLO)
Bill Marolt (USA)
Yoshiro Ito (JPN)

Additionally, the Council assigned the following responsibilities:

FIS Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance Commission: Sverre Seeberg (NOR)
Chairman of the FIS Doping Panel: Patrick Smith (CAN)

In nominating all the chairs and members of the more than 50 FIS Committees, Sub-Committees and working groups, the Council appointed newly-elected Council Member and former member of the Committee for Nordic Combined Roman Kumpost for an intermediary period of one to two years as chairman of the Committee for Nordic Combined in order to re-organize the discipline.

Other new main Committee chairmen are:

Alpine Committee: Bernhard Russi (SUI)
Telemark Committee: Andrew Clark (GBR)

Sub-Committees:
for Popular Cross-Country: Rune Bergsodden (NOR)
for Alpine Continental Cup: Stefan Krauss (GER)
for Alpine Rules and Control: Michael Huber (AUT)
for Nor-Am Cup: Robert Rouselle (CAN, rotation between USA and Canada every two years)

The Council noted with pleasure the number of different nations submitting proposals for Committee membership in the four Sub-Committees for Youth and Children's Questions underlining the impact of efforts undertaken through the international, multi-year ‘FIS Bring Children to the Snow' campaign.

An updated list of all FIS Committees, sub-committees and working groups can be found here.

The former Council appointed the following Honorary Members of FIS Committees in recognition of their outstanding services:

Gianfranco Collinassi (ITA), Freestyle Committee
Christian Egli (SUI), Cross-Country Committee
Oskar Fischer (GER), Alpine Committee
Joe Lamb (USA), Nordic Combined Committee
Christian Poley (AUT), Alpine Committee
Joseph Schelbert (SUI), Committee for Masters Racing
Josef Zenhäusern (SUI), Committee for Advertising Matters/Eligibility Committee

The FIS Council dealt with a full agenda in Antalya including reports from Organizing Committees from the concluded as well as the future senior and junior FIS World Championships and Olympic Winter Games; appointment of technical officials; proposals from the FIS Technical Committees with calendar updates and developments to various rules. Additionally, two half days of the Council Meetings were dedicated to the election of the Organizers of the FIS World Championships in 2014 and 2015.

The main decisions of the Council in Antalya include the following:

Decisions directly related to ski sports

FIS World Cup calendars 2010/2011
Please see the final versions on the FIS Website under the respective disciplines and World Cup.

Organizers of FIS World Championships 2011-2013
The following organizers of FIS World Championships were appointed:
• Jyväskylä (FIN) as the organizer of FIS Junior Freestyle World Championships 2011 in Moguls and Dual Moguls
• Valmalenco (ITA) as the organizer of FIS Junior Snowboard World Championships 2011
• GranPallars Espot (SPA) as the organizer of FIS Telemark World Championships 2013

Proposals and requests from the Technical Committees

Ski Jumping
• The maximum size of Ski Flying hills was increased to 135 meters (from 130 meters), as measured by the height difference between the edge of the takeoff platform and the lowest point of the transition curve to the outrun flat.
• The new rules for wind and gate factors were approved to be used for the Ski Jumping World Cup, Junior World Championships, World Ski Championships, Ski Flying World Championships and Olympic Winter Games. This means the Jury is allowed to change the in-run gate within the same competition round; subject to a unanimous decision and only if the so called "wind and gate compensation system" is used. The same rule also applies to Nordic Combined.
• Introduction of a team event for ladies at the Junior World Ski Championships beginning in competition season 2010-2011.
• As from the 2011/12 season, a ladies' Ski Jumping World Cup series will be introduced following the positive developments with the Continental Cup series that has been staged since 2004/2005.
• In order to better structure the extensive youth development activities taking place in many nations, the rules for the Youth Ski Jumping Cup were defined. Two categories exist, Youth I comprising girls and boys aged born in 12, 13 and 14, and Youth II for 15, 16 and 17 year olds. Additionally, a quota system for the Junior World Ski Championships will be implemented whereby all nations are entitled to enter two athletes, with additional places up to a maximum of 5 (only 4 may be entered in the individual event) available for qualified nations.

Nordic Combined
Nordic Combined FIS Summer Grand Prix 2010 was introduced as an additional period for the calculation of the World Ranking system. The Cross-Country part of the competitions will be carried out using roller skis.

Alpine Skiing
The main decisions related to Alpine Skiing were summarized in a discipline specific release available here. In addition the FIS Council decided that:

• The entry age for participation in FIS competitions was increased to 16 years old (from 15) starting from 2012/13. The main reason for this significant proposal is to better protect the young athletes from the impact of competing on full length demanding courses during a period their personal growth. Additionally the increase in age for entry to FIS senior competitions conforms better with many national education systems enabling the youngsters to conclude an important period of their schooling before dealing with the additional demands of senior competition.

Freestyle Skiing
A number of adaptations to the rules were made in relation to the composition of the jury, calculation of quotas and the use of the World Cup starting list points system that exists for Alpine Skiing.

The organizers of the FIS Freestyle & Snowboard Junior World Championships 2010 in Wanaka (NZE) will host both ski and snowboard slopestyle on the program. The Freestyle discipline will coordinate the development of these events together with Snowboarding and integrate ski slopestyle into the FIS Freestyle Continental Cup competitions starting in season 2011 - 2012.

Snowboard
Various modifications were made to the rules were approved, including regulations for to wear two-piece competition suits for slalom and giant slalom.
There will be two overall FIS Snowboard World Cup awards in the future: the overall champion in the speed events and the overall champion in the freestyle events. The points from all World Cup speed results (parallel and snowboard cross) will be added together to determine the overall champion in the speed disciplines. The points from all World Cup Freestyle results (half-pipe, slopestyle and big air) will be added together to determine the overall champion in the freestyle disciplines. A maximum of six competitions are taken into consideration regardless the event where the results are achieved.

Other Committees
Other Technical Committees including Speed Skiing and Telemark submitted updates to their regulations. The Legal and Medical Committees reviewed aspects of the FIS Medical Guide and carried out a constructive joint meeting, whilst the Committee for Public Relations and Mass Media reported on a successful workshop session: Social Media: Building Community for Our Sports carried out as part of the meetings.

FIS news
Antalya, 6th June, 2010