June 14, 2019 (Dubrovnik, Croatia) – The FIS Calendar Conference that recently concluded in Croatia produced some truly positive elements for Nordic skiing, following four days of meetings along the rocky coastline of the Adriatic.

In a attendance for a good portion of the Nordic technical committee meetings, which feature discussion and ratification of schedules, rules and controls, marketing and general governance of the sport, here’s a snapshot of what we learned.

For cross-country, the committee’s Athlete representatives, put forth a proposed increase in prize money. An immediate increase of 5,000 (CHF) was not approved but this issue will likely remain on the table when the FIS technical groups meet again this fall in Zurich. There was also discussion about the huge growth in the area of ski service, testing of skis, even including the size of wax trucks and their related power supplies. This discussion was an interesting one, and while no conclusions were reached it seems we may at some point see a decrease in space or even in accredited personal, to allow, perhaps, some fairness for the smaller national teams that lack big-time budgets.

The FIS committee also agreed to include the sport’s first ever-mixed relay race on the World Cup and will debut this coming this year in Canmore, Alta. This new event is something that should be fun to watch for.

One of the most interesting highlights in Croatia was a presentation from the organizers of Ski Tour 2020 for cross-country skiing. The new Tour is set to launch in February of that year in the Swedish hotbed town of Ostersund, host site of this past season’s IBU Biathlon World Championships. The caravan will then travel to Are and cross the boarder from Storlien to Meraker, Norway as it heads to the conclusion in Trondheim. One very long stage will see the athletes cross the border and have to carry their own feeds with them. All transfers will be done by train, and athletes must take the train or they will not be allowed to start the next stage.

An excellent and very comprehensive report came from the Organizing Committee of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games. They are making superb progress and in many cases are well ahead of their own timetable.

The annual Tour de Ski, the highest TV-rated FIS property in the sport of cross-country skiing, will see some format adjustments. Most notable is that the annual grueling climb up Alpe Cermis will now be conducted in a mass start format.

Everyone was excited to hear the confirmation from FIS regarding the addition of a full-on World Cup for Women’s Nordic Combined starting in the 2020-21 season.

Also on the combined beat, a mixed team event will be added at the Junior Worlds starting at this year’s World Championships in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. Many view this as a very positive step forward for Nordic combined, and will give more nations the opportunity to field teams.

One of the big issues was gender equity within FIS and its committees and powerful FIS Council. Expect to see a larger FIS Council and greater participation from women down the road as this timely discussion takes hold.

At long last, after several years of sometimes-heated discussion FIS has moved to a change in nomenclature from “Ladies” to “Women” which will be implemented immediately. Also on a positive gender note the Technical Directors for the upcoming winter racing season are to be split evenly between men and women, something FIS has done a good job of in recent years that reflects the influence and growth of women as sports experts.

Plus we caught up with legendary Finnish xc skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, retired since 2018, following her talk at the Women’s XC Ski sub committee meeting, about the progess and work still to be done for women in skiing.

Interview with Aino-Kaisa Saarinen

There continues to be talk about streamling the World Cup calendar, adding more periods for training and for rest, and having blocks on the calendar that will keep venues closer to each other. This is especially true for weekends before and after the Tour de Ski. Almost half (49%) of athletes polled felt the World Cup season is a bit too hard with too many races. Over 60% percent of those same athletes said they liked the race formats on the FIS World Cup which will continue to be a 50-50 mix of both classic and free technique events. The group polled also seems to like city sprints including the introduction of more night races.

Peter Graves is a senior international journalist for SkiTrax Magazine and his trip to the FIS Calendar Conference in Croatia was self-funded. Graves is broadcast and print journalist who has covered 11 Olympic Games.