47th International Ski Congress – 2010 – Antalya (TUR)

Centenary celebrations

The 47th International Ski Congress was held in Antalya (TUR) from 30th May until 5th June 2010 with more than 1’000 participants from 74 nations in attendance. The 2010 FIS Congress also marked the centennial of the first International Ski Congress that was held in Christiania (NOR, later known as Oslo) on 18th February 1910. The first ever Congress saw the foundation of the International Ski Commission, known by its French acronym CIS which was the organisation that then gave way to the International Ski Federation (FIS) during the 1st Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix (FRA) in February 1924.

Antalya 2010 thus saw various centenary celebrations take place, one of which was the opening of the Congress with a presentation to FIS by the European Broadcasting Union of a specially made film depicting great sporting highlights from the time since moving pictures are available. Additionally, a book commissioned by FIS entitled 100 Years of International Skiing by E. John B. Allen and Egon Theiner, which charts the developments of the first century of FIS and its activities, was presented.

Re-election of Gian Franco Kasper

A major highlight of the 2010 Congress in Antalya was the re-election of Gian Franco Kasper to his fourth four-year term as FIS President from 2010-2014. President Kasper was elected for the first time in Prague (CZE) 1998. In accepting his election by acclamation, he said: "I thank you for this confidence, I promise to do my best for the sport during the next four years. Whether that will be good enough is for others to judge."

As required by the FIS Statutes, the 2010 Congress also elected the FIS Council for the upcoming two-year period from 2010-2012, which includes eight new members of the total of 16 Council members.

Embarking on 2nd century

Other matters on the agenda of the 2010 Congress included taking a number of important decisions with a view to developing the FIS disciplines in a progressive way as international ski sports embark on their second century, and focusing on their appeal to the younger generations.

The Congress unanimously supported the proposal to submit a request to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include Freestyle half-pipe on the programme of the Olympic Winter Games. FIS will now propose Freestyle half-pipe together with ladies' Ski Jumping and the Alpine Nations' Team Event, which will – in accordance with the decision of the FIS Congress 2006 – be resubmitted to the IOC.

Snowboard slopestyle and team snowboard cross were unanimously adopted on the programme of the FIS Snowboard World Championships, whilst the submission of slopestyle to the IOC was also discussed.

A multi-stage competition in Cross-Country Skiing, similar to the annual FIS Tour de Ski, was accepted to be carried out as a World Championship every four years.

Administrative and financial decisions

Two Associate Members, Albania and Nepal, were accepted as full members of the International Ski Federation. On accepting their membership, the Nepal Ski Association announced that it will seek to place the FIS flag on top of the world's highest mountain Mt. Everest to recognise the centennial of FIS and highlight the start of the 2nd century of international skiing.

The Antalya Congress approved the accounts and reports of the auditors as well as the budget for the next two year period 2010-2011. It also accepted the proposal from the Council for a special distribution for the promotion of skiing coming from the result of period 2008/09 together with a sizeable contributions from the FIS reserves as an exceptional measure to assist the National Ski Associations to recover from the economic difficulties they have faced over the past two years during the financial crisis. Including the budgeted amount of CHF 10 million in National Ski Association support for 2010-11, a total of CHF 26.5 million will be distributed in direct financial support from FIS to the member National Ski Associations.

Tailor-made insurance scheme for all FIS athletes

On proposal of the FIS Athletes Commission, an especially tailor-made insurance scheme for the 35'000 registered athletes in all the FIS disciplines was approved to assist athletes in case of permanent disability or death. All active registered athletes will be covered at accidents during official training and competition at FIS events. The cost of the insurance coverage will be shared between FIS and the member National Ski Associations.

First FIS SnowKidz Award

To conclude the Congress, awards were presented as part of FIS's multi-year international campaign entitled "Bring Children to Snow" and designed to generate passion for snow activities among the younger generations, the Antalya Congress awarded the recipients of the first FIS SnowKidz Award. The top three awards went to Norway, USA and Germany.

Election of 2014/2015 FIS World Championship organizers

Last but surely not least, Antalya saw the FIS Council elect the organizers of the 2015 FIS Nordic, Alpine and Freestyle & Snowboard World Championships as well as of the 2014 FIS Ski Flying World Championships on Thursday, 3rd June 2010. Harrachov (CZE) was unanimously elected as host of the 2014 FIS Ski Flying World Championships whilst Kreischberg (AUT) became the honor to stage history's first joint FIS Freestyle & Snowboard World Championships in 2015. The 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships will be hosted by Falun after the Swedish town prevailed after three close ballots against Lahti (FIN) by a single vote. Meanwhile, Beaver Creek/Vail (USA) was elected as the host of the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.