President Eliasch looks back on 2023

As the end of December nears, we can look back on another fantastic year for snow sports. 2023 saw some truly outstanding performances, with feats of skill that will be talked about for years to come.

Though picking highlights is impossible, I personally will never forget Mikaela Shiffrin’s world record-smashing run this year, nor the sight of Simon Billy reaching super-human speeds. All who saw these talents will know how exhilarating they were to watch.

For me, another 2023 highlight was seeing Para athletes officially joining the FIS family. I have always passionately believed that the slopes should be open for all, and that competitive skiing and snowboarding must be something that everyone with the required amount of courage and endurance can enjoy. This year we took giant steps towards making that inclusive dream a reality.

Our major flagship events were, as ever, superbly run. At the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Courchevel/Meribel we enjoyed blue skies, perfect snow and the warmest hospitality. At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, organisers put on a green and an environmentally-friendly ski event. The fact that the FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships were held for the first time in Bakuriani, Georgia showed how the passion for snow sports is growing across the globe.

As well as this we enjoyed the FIS Para World Ski and Snowboard Championships in Oestersund, Espot and La Molina, as well as the FIS Junior World Ski and Snowboard Championships all over the world in St. Anton, Whistler, Airolo, Bansko and Cardrona. Watching these events was a great source of pride for me as it showed, once again, how FIS staff pull together with local organisers to stage spectacular events.

The team has also been pulling together this year to confront the challenge of climate change. All who love snow sports will be acutely concerned about the way that changes to our planet’s climate are already affecting the habitat on which our sport depends. It’s because of this existential threat to skiing and snowboarding that I believe we need to be ambassadors for a new, more sustainable way of doing sport at the international level.

Our intentions on this front were made clear in 2023 with the hire of a highly-experienced Sustainability Director whose mission it is to affect real change across our organisation. In practice this means a number of things, including a new calculation of our emissions; a significant programme of actions to cut emissions that FIS has direct control over; the development of sustainability guidelines for National Ski Associations and event organisers; strengthening partnerships with other Sport Federations and NGOs working internationally on these issues, and much more.

2023 also saw FIS take significant strides forward to a future where we control our media rights, and determine our own destiny. When it comes to the way we market and promote snow sports, there is enormous potential for growth – and centralising our media rights is an essential prerequisite before that potential can be unleashed. We are in regular talks with National Ski Associations about centralization, in the belief that it’s only with the close cooperation of all our members that FIS can maximise these growth opportunities. As a federation we are aiming for centralization in the knowledge that this will create significant benefits for athletes, who are at the heart of everything we do.

For our athletes we are aiming high, and the steps we have already taken to digitalise FIS content give us a glimpse of how great our future content could be. Now that our digital strategy has been finalised we have changed our social media accounts; launched FISTV and the FIS TikTok channel; and broken into the huge Chinese social media scene with activity on Weibo, DOUYIN and Red.

2023 focused also on the implementation of our five-year strategy, in which the development of our sport around the globe was paramount. On that front we were delighted to welcome 47 countries to the first FIS Summit, giving an insight into the strategic goals of FIS and forming relationships which will help our sport grow around the world. To that same end, we launched the FIS Development and Membership Hub as well as the FIS Event Platform, improving the transfer of knowledge between federations and major FIS Event Organizers respectively.

One of the most exciting developments we have on the horizon is the inaugural FIS Games in 2028, and this year we laid some important foundations for it. We now have official applications in from St. Moritz/Engadine (SUI) and Lillehammer/Hafjell (NOR), and in the coming months will work with them to develop ideas. Be in no doubt that whoever wins the bid to host, this 16-day festival of snow sports will be truly spectacular.

In summary, it’s been an exhilarating, exciting and productive year – and I would like to thank all those who have contributed to it: our members, the athletes and their support teams, local organising committees, our sponsors and partners, the technical delegates, judges, officials, FIS team and every single volunteer – it’s their efforts which help make our sport great.

We look forward to making more progress in 2024. In the meantime, let me take this opportunity to wish you a very happy New Year.

Johan Eliasch
FIS President