The FIS Council held its’ Autumn Meeting at the FIS Headquarters in Oberhofen (SUI) on Saturday 7th November and dealt with a full agenda relating to the current season, as well as future activities. The main subject areas included approval of competition calendars, proposals from the FIS Technical Committees with updates to various regulations and competition rules, appointment of technical officials and reports on the upcoming FIS World Championships and Olympic Winter Games.
The main decisions of the Council Meeting in Oberhofen include the following:
Decisions directly related to FIS competition activities
FIS World Cup calendars 2015/2016 to 2019/2020
Minor modifications to the FIS World Cup Calendars for the 2015/2016 season proposed by the respective Technical Committees were approved, the final versions of which are available on the FIS website. The draft calendars for future seasons up to 2019/20 were also acknowledged.
Candidates for future FIS World Championships 2020 and 2021
The Council confirmed the applications for future FIS World Championships following the submission of their completed Questionnaires and meetings with the FIS Inspection Group. The elections by the Council will take place on Thursday 9th June at the FIS Congress.
2020 Skiflying
Planica, SLO
2021 Nordic Events
Oberstdorf, GER
Planica, SLO
Trondheim, NOR
2021 Alpine Events
Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITA
A new deadline of 31st March 2016 was set for applications to host 2021 FIS Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard World Championships.
Appointment of Future FIS Junior World Championships
Freestyle Skiing 2016:
Ski Cross: Val Thorens (FRA)
Moguls/Dual Moguls: Åre (SWE)
Aerials: Raubichi (BLR)
Confirmation of the exchange of years for FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships with Davos (SUI) taking place in 2018 and Val di Fassa/San Pelligrino (ITA) in 2019.
IOC - Olympic Winter Games
The progress report from PyeongChang 2018 in regard to its’ preparations provided, in particular, an update about the status of the construction of the venues to be ready for the FIS World Cup events in 2016, which will be the first official test events.
The IOC Qualification Systems for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games that will be considered by the IOC Executive Board in December 2015 were approved. The systems have been established with the IOC and FIS qualification system experts, as well as the discipline management before being submitted to the Technical Committees at the recent FIS Technical Committee Meetings.
The final report before the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer (NOR) was provided. On 11th January 2016 the YOG quotas and FIS points lists will be published and communicated to the National Olympic Committees and National Ski Associations.
In addition President Gian Franco Kasper gave the first update following the election of Beijing (CHN) as the newly-elected host of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, and from the Olympic Summit notable in regard to the positive implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020 and the Olympic Channel.
Prize money 2016/2017
The Council agreed to amend the amount of prize money for the FIS Alpine World Cup competitions for the 2015/2016 season. It is thereby increased in two steps of CHF 10’000 from CHF 100’000 in 2014/2015 and previous seasons to CHF 110’000 for the season 2015/2016 and CHF 120’000 for the season 2016/2017 divided between the top 30 athletes. The prize money amounts in all other FIS disciplines remain at the same level .
FIS Technical Committees
A number of proposals from the Technical Committees to amend rules organisations aspects were accepted. Of note are the following:
Nordic Combined
Increase to the value points for the K-point distance over 100 metres to 1,8 per meter from 1,5.
Alpine Skiing
Change to the starting order for downhill and super G to increase the level of media exposure. The Alpine Executive Board has been tasked with finalising details of the system for implementation from the 2016/17 season.
Freestyle Ski / Snowboard
Introduction of Freestyle big air competitions at the respective levels
The procedure for Candidate Technical Delegates to qualify as competitions officials
Adoption of a Code of Conduct in Snowparks
Other Decisions
Affiliation to FIS – Membership of National Associations
The Council approved provisional membership for Uganda and Afghanistan initially at FIS level competitions. This takes the total to 126 full and associate FIS member National Associations.
Committees
Council Member Dean Gosper will chair a working group to review the Freestyle Ski and Snowboard Committee structure, as well as the strategy for the disciplines until spring 2016.
The proposal of the FIS Athletes Commission for its’ representative elected by the athletes to be an ordinary Council Member with relevant voting rights was supported and approved for submission to the Congress.
The name of the Sub-Committee for Skiers with a Disability has been changed to Sub-Committee for Para Snowsports to reflect its mandate that includes several FIS disciplines.
FIS Congress 2016
The Council approved the provisional agenda for the 50th International Ski Congress in 2016 which is scheduled from 5th to 11th June in Cancun (MEX). It also reviewed the proposals from the National Ski Associations and its’ own proposals from the Technical Committees to submit to the FIS Congress in 2016.
Marc Hodler Foundation - FIS social responsibilities, climate and the environment
The Foundation will develop its’ social responsibility activities and initiate the organisation of a seminar in regard to the effect of climate change on snow and the winter sports environment.
Bring Children to Snow Campaign – FIS World Snow Day
The fourth FIS World Snow Day will take place on 17th January 2016 following the successful developments since the inaugural edition in 2012.
Source: fis-ski.com
