FIS News
Season Comments from the FIS President
FIS President Gian Franco Kasper took a moment to reflect on the 2012/13 season for the FIS Newsflash.
Mr President, looking back, how do you assess this season?
"Overall, it has been a very enjoyable season. The ski tourism and equipment industry have both benefited from the substantial snowfalls and most everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere we have had a great and long ski season.
We also enjoyed excellently-organised FIS World Championships that received worldwide media coverage. Some of the championship highlights included innovations in TV production and spectator experience, as well as a broad distribution of medals especially in the Nordic and Alpine World Ski Championships with 14 and 10 nations respectively, winning medals.
In the World Cup we can also say that the season was very good indeed. There were almost no cancellations, notwithstanding the fog during the Finals for Alpine and Freestyle Skiing & Snowboarding in the last two weeks."
Next season will see the Sochi 2014 Games – you just visited Sochi with the IOC Coordination Commission, is everything in plan?
"At the moment, Sochi is still a massive construction site and this work will need to continue under high pressure for the coming months. But we are sure that it will all be ready just in time, thanks to the might of Russia and the importance of this project for the nation. Consequently we can be very optimistic and look forward to good Games where everything will work just fine.
For the FIS disciplines, the venues are already mostly ready and we just need to wish for better weather luck than we had during some of the pre-Olympic test events. This season, it was really a pity with the lack of snow and warm temperatures. The Organisers now have an elaborate plan for snow storage to create reserves of up to 450,000 m3 in order to be prepared for any weather eventualities next February.
However, I also hope that they will work equally hard to ensure that the 2014 Games will be held in a true Olympic spirit and atmosphere."
In your overall view, how is the sport of skiing doing?
"I sense a very positive atmosphere. This season has seen more people skiing than for years. All the key indicators are showing a positive trend – media interest is expanding, both on-site spectator and TV viewing figures are growing and we have an increasing number of FIS registered competitions in our international calendar. Of course that does not mean that we could not develop further and we will conduct detailed reviews of our rules and competition formats during the upcoming Technical Committee Meetings, such as for example in Ski Jumping. But overall the sport is doing very well!"
Source: FIS
Mr President, looking back, how do you assess this season?
"Overall, it has been a very enjoyable season. The ski tourism and equipment industry have both benefited from the substantial snowfalls and most everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere we have had a great and long ski season.
We also enjoyed excellently-organised FIS World Championships that received worldwide media coverage. Some of the championship highlights included innovations in TV production and spectator experience, as well as a broad distribution of medals especially in the Nordic and Alpine World Ski Championships with 14 and 10 nations respectively, winning medals.
In the World Cup we can also say that the season was very good indeed. There were almost no cancellations, notwithstanding the fog during the Finals for Alpine and Freestyle Skiing & Snowboarding in the last two weeks."
Next season will see the Sochi 2014 Games – you just visited Sochi with the IOC Coordination Commission, is everything in plan?
"At the moment, Sochi is still a massive construction site and this work will need to continue under high pressure for the coming months. But we are sure that it will all be ready just in time, thanks to the might of Russia and the importance of this project for the nation. Consequently we can be very optimistic and look forward to good Games where everything will work just fine.
For the FIS disciplines, the venues are already mostly ready and we just need to wish for better weather luck than we had during some of the pre-Olympic test events. This season, it was really a pity with the lack of snow and warm temperatures. The Organisers now have an elaborate plan for snow storage to create reserves of up to 450,000 m3 in order to be prepared for any weather eventualities next February.
However, I also hope that they will work equally hard to ensure that the 2014 Games will be held in a true Olympic spirit and atmosphere."
In your overall view, how is the sport of skiing doing?
"I sense a very positive atmosphere. This season has seen more people skiing than for years. All the key indicators are showing a positive trend – media interest is expanding, both on-site spectator and TV viewing figures are growing and we have an increasing number of FIS registered competitions in our international calendar. Of course that does not mean that we could not develop further and we will conduct detailed reviews of our rules and competition formats during the upcoming Technical Committee Meetings, such as for example in Ski Jumping. But overall the sport is doing very well!"
Source: FIS
