The opening of the 2017/18 Audi FIS Ski World Cup is finally here

Marking the countdown to the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, the Olympic flame was lit in Ancient Olympia yesterday, 24^th October 2017.

During slalom training in Pitztal, Austria, on 22 October, Slovenian World Cup star Ilka Stuhec suffered a severe knee injury following a fall.

Marielle Thompson, the reigning Olympic champion and number one ranked female ski cross athlete in the world, has suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL) in training.

Not only the Nordic Combined World Cup is gearing up for one of the biggest seasons ever, the Continental Cup, too, is peppered with highlights - for male and for the first time also for female athletes.

With the second ever Big Air and the City just around the corner, Local Organisers have now opened up the ticket sale for this season's second FIS Big Air World Cup event.

On Thursday morning, the official snow control took place in Sölden and the World Cup Opening could be confirmed by FIS race director Markus Mayr, chief of course Isidor Grüner and chief of race Rainer Gstrein. 

The FIS Snowboard World Cup is about to return to Lower Austria this season as Lackenhof will celebrate its World Cup host debut by staging back-to-back parallel races on January 5 and 6, 2018.

Pierre Mignerey, FIS Cross-Country Race Director gave an interview to www.xc-ski.de about the future of Cross-Country Skiing and proposals how to streamline the competition programme. Here's the English original of the interview.  

While the winter hasn't arrived in Europe yet, FIS Officials are currently busy on checking the World Cup venues for the 2017-18 season.