FIS Alpine and XC World Cup Sub-Committee meetings updates

Last week FIS held online meetings of its Alpine and Cross-country skiing World Cup sub-committees, to discuss rule changes and proposals ahead of the Extraordinary FIS Congress scheduled to take place online on the 8 October 2021.

For alpine skiing, one of the key items on the agenda was the confirmation of the Alpine event schedule for the upcoming season, as the Audi FIS World Cup is due to open in Soelden, Austria, with the traditional women’s and men’s Giant Slalom on 23-24 October. The proposals for the women’s and men’s calendar have been drafted and will be up for approval at the FIS Congress.

The alpine sub-committee also discussed several rule changes for the 2021/22 season, including calculation for the Alpine Combined and Parallel events quotas. FIS established a working group to discuss a proposal to change the starting order for speed disciplines, which will be further discussed taking into account the outcomes of recent stakeholder consultations. 

For the 2021/2022 Northern Hemisphere season, the Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) and South American Cup (SAC) Sub-Committees proposed to award as winners the best athletes in each Continental Cup region ranked in the 7th FIS points list in the corresponding event.

On the cross-country side, the major proposals from the World Cup Committee concerned the new format for the mixed Relay and mixed Team Sprint test events which will be held in Falun, Sweden, in March 2022. Updates to the rules around obstuction and overtaking were also discussed, and principles for a long-term calendar framework established. These included a focus on reducing the World Cup environmental footprint by optimising travel and logistics, the promotion of international participation and gender equality, with the same calendar for men and women.

The sub-committee also confirmed that Zakopane will no longer be able to host the cross-country events for the Junior and Under-23 World Ski Championships in 2022. FIS is in the process of evaluating alternative venues and confirm a new host, which will be announced in due course.

For the full update from the Autumn Sub-Committee meetings for the Cross-country and Alpine skiing World Cups, follow the links to the FIS website.