The FIS Council held its spring Meetings during the FIS Congress Week in Costa Navarino (GRE) from 13th - 17th May, with the first meeting on the newly-elected Council on Saturday 19th May.
The tasks of the Council before the Congress itself included going through the agenda for the FIS Congress, reviewing reports from the Organising Committees of the FIS World Championships, Olympic Winter Games and Youth Olympic Games and dealing with proposals from the FIS Technical Committees including World Cup calendars, the appointment of technical officials, adaptation to various rules, approval of technical official courses and financial support for special projects.
In addition, financial affairs, anti-doping matters, adopting the FIS Snow Safe policy (safeguarding against harassment) and management of governance and ethical breaches. Updates from a number of other FIS activities were presented, including marketing and communication projects, the Bring Children to the Snow campaign and business reports from the FIS companies, FIS Marketing AG and FIS Travel Service.
The main decisions of the Council in Costa Navarino include the following:
FIS World Cup calendars 2018/2019 to 2021/2022
A number of modifications to the FIS World Cup Calendars for the 2018/2019 season proposed by the respective Technical Committees were approved, the final versions of which are available on the FIS website. Calendar drafts for future seasons were also reviewed.
FIS World Championships and Junior World Championships
As already announced, the Organisers of the FIS World Championships 2022 and 2023 were elected as follows:
- 2022 FIS Ski Flying World Championships: Vikersund (NOR)
- 2023 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships: Bakuriani (GEO)
- 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships: Courchevel-Meribel (FRA)
- 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships: Planica (SLO)
In addition the Council appointed the following Organisers:
- Marbach (SUI) - FIS Grass Ski World Championships 2019
- Lahti replacing Vuokatti (FIN) - FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships 2019
- Narvik (NOR) - FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships 2020
Technical Committees
A number of adaptions to the technical rules were approved by the Council, details of which have been published under the discipline committee reports. These include:
Cross-Country Skiing
The skiathlon was exchanged with the 15 km and 30 km on the FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships and U23 programme. Minor adaptations to the World Cup rules were also implemented.
Ski Jumping
The maximum hill size for the ladies will not be limited and they will officially compete on the large hills as well as the normal hills. In the summer Grand Prix 2018, three competitions will be staged on the large hill and approximately half of the competitions will be staged on the large hill during the upcoming winter season.
Nordic Combined
The Nordic Combined Ladies competition will be officially included on the programme of the FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships after the successful test event in Kandersteg 2018. Additionally a mass start competition for the men will be carried out at the World Cup competition in Lillehammer (NOR) this upcoming season.
Alpine Skiing
The number of athletes from any given nation permitted to start in World Cup competitions was reduced by one for men’s competitions when a nation has the maximum number of athletes eligible.
Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard
There will be a new combined ICR rulebook for Freestyle Skiing-Freeski and Snowboard to make it more user-friendly and harmonised between the two disciplines. New ski cross suit specifications tighten the entire uniform will be used from the upcoming season. A revision in the difficulty degree for moguls and ladies’ aerials was introduced. In view of the significant increase in the number of nations qualifying and participating in the World Cup, the Committee is in the process of reducing the quotas per nation for all events, in order to increase the quality of events.
Other Decisions
Anti-Doping:
The FIS Doping Panel reported on its decision to sanction cross-country athlete Marina Piller (ITA) for an Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) anti-doping rule violation for two years from 1st January 2017 until 31st December 2018.
Furthermore, the FIS Council acknowledged the work being undertaken to establish regulations as part of the FIS Anti-Doping Rules to reduce quota spots at the FIS World Championships and World Cup competitions, as well as Olympic Winter Games in the event of repeated anti-doping rule violations. This underlines the FIS no-tolerance policy and will serve as a valuable preventative tool against doping.
Adoption of FIS Safe Sport Policy
The Council approved the new FIS Safe Snow Policy to address Safeguarding from Harassment and Abuse. Working with the IOC to develop its Toolkit, the provisions have been incorporated in the FIS Snow Safe Policy, which are also designed to assist the National Ski Associations implement policies for safeguarding athletes from harassment and abuse in sport. Information sessions took place during the FIS Congress with the FIS Medical, Youth & Children, Legal and Safety Committees and the Athletes Commission.
Management of Governance and Ethical Breaches
The Council approved the establishment of the system to protect the integrity of sport and the FIS in the case of any breaches of governance and ethical matters through a partnership to provide independent services, including a Whistleblower Hotline and an Ethics and Compliance Office as well as access to Investigation Services. The system will deal with such matters as provided for in the FIS Code of Ethics, Anti-Corruption and Betting Rules, new Safe Snow Policy and the FIS Anti-Doping Rules.
The first Meeting of the newly-elected FIS Council for the 2018-2020 period by the Congress on Thursday 18th May dealt with the following agenda:
Election of the FIS Vice Presidents, Finance, Doping Panel and Council Working Group Chairs
The Council elected two new Vice Presidents for Scandinavia and North America: Mats Årjes (SWE), who also takes over as Chairman of the Finance Commission and Treasurer, and Patrick Smith (CAN). The Council Working Groups for Governance that will address proposals referred by the FIS Congress will be chaired by Janez Kocijancic (SLO) and Martti Uusaitalo (FIN) for Gender Equity:
- Vice-Presidents: Janez Kocijancic (SLO), Aki Murasato (JPN), Mats Årjes (SWE), Patrick Smith (CAN)
- Chairman of the Finance Commission and Treasurer: Mats Årjes (SWE)
- Chairman of the FIS Doping Panel: Patrick Smith (CAN)
- Chairman FIS Development Programme Working Group: Alfons Hoermann (GER)
- Chairman Council Governance Working Group: Janez Kocijancic (SLO)
- Chairman Council Gender Working Group: Martti Uusaitalo (FIN)
Nomination of Committee Members and new Committees
On the proposal of the National Ski Associations, the Council appointed the members of the FIS Committees for the period 2018 - 2020. The following new Chairs were appointed (the complete list of members will be published on the FIS Website).
Public Relations and Media: Chris Robinson (CAN). Outgoing Chairman Tom Kelly (USA) was appointed an honorary member of the PR and Media Committee and will focus on FIS Sustainability initiatives.
- Speed Skiing: Per Kjellström (SWE)
- Grass Skiing: Cerentin Fausto (ITA)
Furthermore the Council recognised the exceptional merit of retiring Committee Members as Honorary Committee Members:
- Inge Christophersen (GBR), Sub-Committee for Alpine Ladies
- David Howden (NZE), Legal and Safety Committee
- Tom Kelly (USA), PR and Media Committee
- Paul Michaelidis (CYP), Recreational Committee
- Ted Sutton (USA), Alpine Courses
- Melita Tsoutrelis (GRE), PR and Media Committee
- Toni Vogrinec (SLO), Alpine Committee
FIS Calendar Conference 2019 (Technical Committees and FIS Council Meetings)
The FIS Calendar Conference and Council Meeting in 2019 will take place in Cavtat- Dubrovnik (CRO) from 28th May to 1st June 2019.
Source: fis-ski.com
