October 2, 2009 – The dominant topic at the meeting of the Ski Jumping Committee at the FIS autumn meetings in Zurich, Switzerland was the new competition rules tested during the FIS Summer Grand Prix that take into account the current wind conditions and allow a change of the inrun length during a competition.

The new rules seek to ensure fairness for all competitors and to enable smooth staging of competitions also in difficult conditions by permitting a change of starting platform during a competition round. The impact of the wind and inrun length changes is integrated into the total point score based on a mathematical formula that is adapted for every hill.

In Zürich, the Ski Jumping Committee decided to recommend to the Council to continue the test during the winter season in a somewhat modified form. The test would include the entire competition season 2009/2010, with the exception of the Olympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010, where the rules valid for the previous 2008/2009 season will be in use.

Adaptations supported by the Jumping Committee include a key change regarding the inrun length, along with other smaller amendments. By contrast to the pilot, the inrun length can only be changed by the competition jury. During the summer, the national team coaches also had the chance to reduce the length of the inrun for their athletes.

Walter Hofer, FIS Head of Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined commented: “In my view, the new rules received surprisingly positive feedback. However, we will continue the trial phase, test the details and especially the impact of the new regulation that only the jury may change the inrun length.

Nordic Combined
The Nordic Combined Committee’s focus in Zurich was on analyzing the experiences of the Summer Grand Prix competitions. Similar to Ski Jumping, the pilot of the new rules in the jumping part of Nordic Combined is planned to continue during the 09/10 season. During the Olympic Winter Games, the old rules in use during the previous 2008/09 season would still be applied.

Further analysis will still be conducted to decide whether inline skates or roller skis will be used during the 2010 Summer Grand Prix. A final decision will be made during the 2010 Congress in Antalya (TUR) where the competition calendar, too, will be finalized.

Cross Country
The Cross-Country Committee and its various Sub-Committees held several meetings to discuss and develop the sport further. In addition, a seminar for the World Cup organizers, a meeting of the Tour de Ski organizers, a World Cup Technical Delegate update and a Cross-Country TV Seminar were held.

The Committee meetings were mostly occupied with the overall frames of the competition calendar for the next several years with the main principles to be followed being continuity and maintaining and developing the necessary experience. New organizers from Poland and Italy presented their plans for new World Cup sites for consideration next spring. An update about the procedure of the new multi-stage World Championships was also provided and will be presented to the Council for its’ consideration to submit to the 2010 Congress. All bodies were also informed about the progress with the Cross-Country marketing project which is in full swing getting ready for the season. The new Cross-Country website will be launched in mid-November.