FIS News
Decisions of the FIS Council Meeting in Constance (GER) - Autumn 2019
28 November 2019 года
Decisions of the FIS Council Meeting in Constance (GER) - Autumn 2019

The FIS Council held its’ Autumn Meeting in Constance (GER), following the Mainau Environment Forum, and dealt with a full agenda relating to the current season, as well as future activities.

Key decisions of the Council Meeting in Constance include the following:

FIS competition activities

FIS World Cup calendars 2019/2020 to 2023/2024

Final versions of the FIS World Cup Calendars for the 2019/2020 season that include minor modifications proposed by the respective Technical Committees were approved and will be available on the FIS website. The draft calendars for future seasons up to 2023/24 were also acknowledged.

The site of Zürs/Lech (AUT) was confirmed as the Organiser of Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Parallel competitions to take place on 14.-15 November 2020 (between the Soelden Opening and Levi weekend).

From spring 2020 the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup calendars will be confirmed in principle for the following three seasons to enable Organisers to better prepare their events and implement longer-term projects and investments.

FIS World Championships
All future FIS World Championship Organisers submitted progress reports which show that preparations are going according to schedule. The FIS Ski Flying World Championships 2020 in Planica (SLO) is fully prepared to stage the event at the end of this season, while Cortina (ITA) – Alpine Skiing; Oberstdorf (GER) – Nordic disciplines; Zhangjiakou/Secret Garden (CHN) - Freestyle Skiing, Snowboard & Freeski will conduct their main test events this season.

The deadline for candidacies for the FIS Ski Flying World Championships 2024 was newly set for 1st March 2020 following the withdrawal of Harrachov (CZE) for the time being.

The FIS World Championship Candidates’ 2024 and 2025 presentations to the FIS Council during the FIS Congress week will take place on Tuesday 19th May 2020 with the election taking place on Thursday 21st May 2020.

Appointment of other FIS World Championships:

The following nations and locations were appointed as new hosts of FIS Junior World Championships:

2020 Saint Lary Soulan (FRA) - Ski and Snowboard Cross
2020 Valmalenco/Alpe Palù (ITA) - Freestyle Aerials and Moguls
2024 Planica (SLO) - Nordic events
(Note: the full list of nations and locations appointed as new hosts from 2020 is available on the FIS Website):

IOC Activities
President Gian Franco Kasper provided the Council with an update on the various IOC activities and meetings from the IOC Executive Board Meetings in June and October and the 134th IOC Session in June.

Olympic Winter Games
The respective Olympic Winter Games Organising Committees submitted status reports. Beijing 2022 focused especially on preparations for its inaugural Test Event for the entire Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games when the Audi FIS World Cup stages its first ever competitions in China with men’s downhill and super G competitions at the new National Alpine Skiing Centre Venue, Yanqing in February 2020. The first report for the Milan-Cortina (ITA) Olympic Winter Games 2026 was well received. The Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games which will be held in January 2020 in Lausanne (SUI) provided a final update.

FIS Environment Forum - Mainau 2019
The three-day FIS Environment in the Mountains and Snow Forum, high-level academic seminar concluded on Friday at which FIS underlined its commitment to taking measures to address climate change. The Council appointed a Working Group which will evaluate the major outcomes from the Forum and integrate them into an updated edition of the FIS Mainau Manifesto.

FIS has recently joined the UNFCCC’s (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Sports for Climate Action initiative as a signatory to the Sports for Climate Action Framework.

FIS Technical Committees
A number of proposals from the Technical Committees to amend rules and sport organisational aspects were accepted.

Alpine Skiing:
The start order for the second run of the Alpine Combined will be carried out in the same order as they finished in the first run.

The FIS World Cup Parallel individual event will feature one run only from the round of 16 onwards. For the round of 32 there will be two runs, one on each course.

Cross Country:
The first edition of the FIS Scandinavia Ski Tour in February 2020 will travel from Sweden to Norway and all participants must travel by the organised train transportation, otherwise they will be disqualified.

Prize money for the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, which has remained the same for the past 18 years will be increased from the 2020/2021 season. The amounts are the same for women and men which is presently at CHF 40‘000 for indivdual events divided between 1st to 20th and CHF 30‘000 for relay and team sprint events divided between 1st and 6th. The increase will be adapted over a three year plan by CHF 2’000 in 2020/21, CHF 3'000 in 2021/2022 and CHF 5'000 in 2022/23.

Committee for Competition Equipment
The use of fluorinated ski waxes, which have been shown to have a negative environmental and health impact were banned for all FIS disciplines from the 2020/2021 season. A specialist FIS Working Group led by FIS Experts Atle Skaardal (Alpine Skiing) and Pierre Mignerey (Cross-Country) including the ski and wax industry will be formed to establish the regulations and control procedures.

Governance of FIS
The Gender Equity Working Group submitted its latest report and received unanimous approval for its proposal to adapt the composition of the FIS Council to include a minimum of three female members, which will be submitted to the FIS Congress 2020 to take effect immediately.

FIS was one of six international sports organisations analysed in the 2019 edition of the Sports Governance Observer Report, where it received at 74% scored classified as a ‘good’ grade.

Anti-Doping Update
On the proposal of the FIS Athletes Commission, FIS will implement an online educational tool and its completion, or an equivalent level national system will be compulsory for all international level athletes in the FIS registered testing pool and those participating at FIS Junior World Championship level. The FIS module will also incorporate the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) educational tool named ADeL (Anti-Doping e-Learning).

FIS Development Programme and FIS Solidarity support
The activities and budget of the FIS Development Programme for 2020, which consists of 41 FIS member National Ski Associations, were agreed. Applications for FIS Solidarity for six special projects were approved.

Bring Children to Snow Campaign - FIS World Snow Day
The ninth FIS World Snow Day will take place on 19th January 2020 following the successful developments since its launch in 2012.

FIS Membership
The Ski and Snowboard Association of Panama was provisionally approved as an associate member after fulfilling the required criteria, subject to confirmation by the FIS Congress 2020.

FIS now includes 133 member National Ski Associations.

FIS Committee Members
The Athletes’ Commission will be increased by two members representing the non-Olympic FIS disciplines. The total number of members of the Athletes’ Commission will therefore be 14 (seven of each gender).

Tanja Poutainen (FIN), former top athlete was appointed as a member of the Alpine Executive Board.

Ingard Lerreim (NOR), Medical Committee (served for 37 years) and Alex Natt (USA), Legal & Safety Committee (served for 13 years) were appointed as Honorary Members of the respective Committees.




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