November 26, 2009 (Oberhofen, SUI) – It has been a good start to the Olympic season. Despite the recent, unseasonably warm weather in most parts of Europe we could stage an excellent Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup glacier opening in Sölden, and then the slalom opening in Levi and the Viessmann FIS Cross-Country World Cup season opening in Beitostoelen, both in very wintery conditions.

Last weekend, the Audi FIS Alpine Ski Champions Cup in Moscow was an excellent initiative for promotion of skiing. It’s an event that brings the world’s best slalom skiers into the heart of the Russian capital. For FIS it is important to bring our athletes and our sport to where the public is. I congratulate the Moscow organizing committee for the success of this 2nd edition, despite the rain. In the future, FIS would like to have a few of these types of Alpine events in big cities. They would help take the next step after the success of the established Snowboard big air events, as in London and Barcelona in the past weeks, Stockholm at the weekend and Seoul next month.

The season will now continue with the Alpine North American tour, which will kick off the speed season in Lake Louise (CAN), and the 8th edition of our Nordic Opening at Ruka in Kuusamo (FIN). Both look very good in terms of the snow.

The Ski Jumping season starting at Ruka will see the continuation later in the season of the trial for the new rules allowing a change of the in-run length during a competition round. In its meeting on 14th November, the FIS Council decided, following consultation with FIS experts, to carry out further tests at the FIS Team Tour in February, at the Nordic Tournament in March as well as at the FIS Ski Flying World Championships 2009 in Planica. In Nordic Combined, the entire DKB FIS World Cup season will serve as a test. However, for reasons of short time frames and the established procedures for the Olympic Games, the new rules cannot be implemented at the Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver 2010.

The FIS Council also deliberated on sanctions against a new European Ski Federation. It decided to put such sanctions on hold until a meeting is held between a working group of Council members and the presidents of the four involved National Ski Associations. The goal is to discuss their issues and how these can be managed within the confines of FIS.

Among the long list of items on the Council’s agenda, we also discussed the problematic of the English name for ‘Cross-Country Skiing’. Too often, this is confused with Cross-Country Running, Cross-Country Mountain Biking, Cross-Country Rally or even Cross-Country Equestrian. I wonder if any of the readers would have suggestions for us? Please e-mail communications(at)fisski.com with your ideas!