Changes in alpine skiing from the FIS Congress
Aug 31, 2018·Alpine Skiing
The FIS Congress was held last week in Costa Navarino (GRE) and resulted in some important discussions and changes for the future of alpine skiing and the World Cup tour. The FIS Council met on Friday and approved the following proposals:
The FIS Council voted on and appointed the organizer of the 2023 World Ski Championships. The event will take place in Courchevel-Méribel (FRA), as the organizers won the bid against Saalbach (AUT).
A new event – individual parallel – was added to the program of the World Championships from 2021 on. The exact format still is yet to be determined and a working group was appointed to work on an harmonization of the existing formats. However, individual parallel will make its World Championships debut in 2021 at Cortina d'Ampezzo (ITA).
A major change starting in the 2018-19 season that has implications for all FIS alpine competitors is the adaptation of the minimum penalty for the different categories in alpine skiing. The penalty remains 0.00 for Olympic Winter Games, World Cup, and World Ski Championship races but has been raised in the other categories. For example, 15.00 will be the new minimum penalty for Continental Cup, World University Games, and Junior World Championship races at the start of the 2018-19 season. National Championships will have a minimum penalty of 20.00. FIS races in other categories (including AWG, CISM, CIT, CITWC, NJC, NJR, UNI, YOG, etc.) will have a minimum penalty of 23.00. Finally, Entry League FIS races (ENL) will carry a minimum penalty of 64.00. Under the new system, the difference between the World Cup level and other races is better taken into consideration.
The enrollment for World Cup City Events has been modified for the 2018-19 season. In the past, a qualified racer created a quota for his or her nation and could be replaced by another athlete from the same country. In Greece, the FIS Council approved that in case a qualified athlete is not participating, his or her spot will go to the next athlete on the World Cup Start List (WCSL) in the event concerned (slalom).
In an effort to reduce the World Cup starting field, a first step was made with a quota reduction on the men's side. In addition to each country's basic quota of one, a National Ski Association may now enter a maximum of seven additional male competitors instead of eight as in the past. Each country will now be able to enter a maximum of eight competitors per event on the men's side (instead of nine), excluding the personal qualifications from the Continental Cups. The ladies' quota and starting field will not change.
Finally, the calendars for 2018/19 were approved during the FIS Congress, as well as the drafts for the three next seasons. They are available here.
With these major decisions, alpine skiing set the groundwork for another great season. The traditional fall meetings will take place in October in Zurich, where the final details will be discussed before the winter.
