August 2, 2008 – As reported earlier, the newly-elected FIS Council appointed several new Committee Chairmen in its first meeting following the FIS Congress in Cape Town (RSA). In this second part of the series, the FIS Newsflash is pleased to present the initial thoughts by two of them as they embark on their new task for the 2008-2010 period:

Finn Marsland (AUS), new Chairman of the Sub-Committee Cross-country for Lowlanders and Citizen Racers

“I didn’t go to Cape Town with the intention of becoming chairperson of the Cross-Country Sub-Committee for Lowlanders. Although Australia had sent teams to the Lowlanders competition in the 1980’s, as coach of the Australian Team since 1999 I was always more interested in taking my athletes to compete in national competitions such as Swiss Cup and Austrian Cup, and having them progress up through Continental Cup to World Cup level.

After discussions with Lowlanders committee members and with Vegard Ulvang I found there was wide support to have the committee change its focus to providing support for developing nations, rather than focusing on runninganevent that had been superseded by strong Continental Cup competitions and Worldloppet competitions. The Worldloppet series is now the main attraction for citizen ski racers, and the Continental Cup series around the world are perfect stepping stones for new nations to experience international competition and develop athletes to the next level.

My vision for the “Cross-Country sub-committee for development”, which is what I would like to call it, is to provide support for developing nations. The goal is to bring more countries into the FIS Cross-Country skiing family; to help them develop and promote the sport at home; and to assist athletes to progress through the various levels of competition, ultimately to World Cup level. The starting point for each nation can be quite different. Some nations have no snow and no skiing culture; some have snow but no competitions; and some have domestic ski competitions, even FIS competitions, but no athletes competing at World Cup.

The main commodity we have to offer these developing nations isinformation. Information on how to train; how to organize a team; how to organize ski competitions; how to enter FIS competitions. On a number of occasions on
Continental Cup and at World Junior Championships I have seen coaches from new teams turn up to team captains’ meetings without confirming the entry two hours before, simply because no-one told them they needed to. Most nations are aware there are qualification standards for World Cup and World Championships, but I’m willing to bet that many athletes from developing nations do not know the new IOC participation criteria for 2010 Winter Olympics and what they need to do to qualify for Vancouver.

Initially I have three main tasks that I’d like the committee to work on.

– Find new nations and enthusiastic individuals willing to join the sub-committee.
– Gather statistics on our current situation, so that down the track we can measure if the strategies of the Sub-Committee are effective. For example, finding out which nations compete regularly at World Junior Championship, World Championship, World Cup, and Winter Olympics, and in the various Continental Cup series. Are the numbers coming up or going down?
– Create basic information sheets for distribution to interested and targeted nations.

When we have achieved these initial tasks then we can look at other strategies to develop and promote cross country skiing below World Cup
level. I have some ideas already, and I’m looking forward to receiving input from other nations.

Thank you for this opportunity to outline my ideas for the committee. Don’t forget, the Australia / New Zealand Cup for Cross Country Skiing starts on 9th August and concludes with the Kangaroo Hoppet at Falls Creek in Australia on 30th August. All nations welcome!”

Özkan Koyuncu (TUR), new Chairman of the Sub-Committee for Rollerskiing

“I think the priority of our Sub-Committee will be the promotion of our sport toward new countries and regions. Now we are really active in Europe but our goal is to engage countries from the American and Asian continents. I know that there are lots of roller skiers but unfortunately they are not participating in any FIS activities. We will try to reach them.We have spent the last two years on integrating our competition rules into the FIS Cross-Country ICR and we modified our TD system according to FIS standards. I know we still need further improvement on these topics.

Another point that we should focus on is to include and attract more Cross-Country skiers to roller ski competitions. In effect all Cross-Country athletes train on roller skis during the summer. But most of them prefer to use them only as training equipment. We should persuade them to also compete. I believe that once they are used to competing on roller skis, they will enjoy it a lot such as amongst others, Giorgio Di Centa, Sabina Valbusa or some other top Cross-Country athletes do.

Given the reality of global warming, I believe that popularity and importance ofRoller Skiing will increase. I will try to closely cooperate
with the Cross-Country sections of the National Ski Associations. The FIS Sub-Committee for Rollerskiing will be more active inside FIS than ever. We will also closely collaborate with the other FIS Cross-Country Committees and the FIS Marketing & Communication department. Of course we would like to ask for more support from FIS management.

I believe that in few years the organizational level of the FIS Roller Skiing World Cup will increase and we will attract more interest from
the sponsors as well as TV coverage.

The proposal to the FIS Council for my nomination was supported by the Committee members. Of course, it was a big honor for me but a huge
responsibility, too. I know the Roller Skiing family and their expectations very well but I trust myself and my Committee members. I know
that they believe in me as well. I want to thank
them all for their trust. I believe that we will work in great harmony and move our lovely sport forward. Many thanks as well to my federation for
their support of my nomination.”