June 05, 2010 (Antalya, Turkey) – Meetings of eight different Cross-Country Committees were held during the 47th International Ski Congress that took place in Antalya, Turkey from Monday, May 31st to Wednesday, June, 2. Some important topics concerning the World Cup calendar, rules and the new marketing concept were presented, discussed and confirmed by the FIS Cross-Country Committee and forwarded to review and decision by the FIS Council.

As already announced in the spring, the permanent FIS Cross-Country team has grown. Beginning with the Antalya Congress, FIS Race Director Jürg Capol will be supported by FIS Race Director Assistant Pierre Mignerey from France. In order to formalize this position, the Rules and Control as well as the World Cup and Continental Cup Sub-Committees updated the World Cup Rules and International Competitions Rules (ICR). The Race Director Assistant will be the technical link between the teams and the Organizing Committees as well support the preparation and realization of the competitions.

A rule regarding the possibility to exchange skis during a competition was defined. In the future, a maximum of three (3) exchanges are allowed in competitions up to 30km, and a maximum of four (4) exchanges in competitions longer than 30km. The proposal of the Sub-Committee for Rules and Control for a rule which allows the removing of ski marking unless there is no advance request by the Jury was supported by the FIS Cross-Country Committee and approved by FIS Council.

In order to facilitate jury work, new articles concerning the definition of obstruction and overtaking responsibility were included in the ICR. Furthermore, new TD Guidelines will be developed by the ICR working group in the next months and presented during at the autumn meetings to support both TD education and Jury work.

The rules concerning intermediate sprints for bonus World Cup points in long distance mass start races were also updated by allowing an additional bonus position in the long distances over 30km (for ladies) and 50km (for men). In terms of FIS points, the FIS Council also confirmed the FIS points system for the FIS Marathon Cups and agreed with a new FIS Points calculation system in multistage events (two or more stages).

All these changes were approved this week by the FIS Council while the proposal for an additional FIS World Championships in Cross-Country – a multi-stage World Championships every four years where there is no season highlight like the Olympic Games or FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was approved by the FIS Congress on Friday, 4th June.

FIS Congress Confirms Multi-stage World Championship in Cross-Country

The 47th International Ski Congress in Antalya on Friday 4th June accepted unanimously the proposal from the Norwegian Ski Federation to carry out a new multi-stage FIS World Championship in Cross-Country Skiing every four year, where no FIS Nordic World Ski Championships or Olympic Winter Games are scheduled. The first edition will take place as soon as the organizational aspects, especially related to TV broadcasting, are clarified. The next possibilities would be in the years 2012 and / or 2016.

“This is an important milestone for Cross-Country. Every four years we have had a considerable decrease in the interest among press, TV and spectators. Cross-Country Skiing was losing interest to other sports and other events,” said Vegard Ulvang, Chairman of the FIS Cross-Country Committee. ” I am sure that a multi-stage World Championship will fill this gap in the interest which is also important for the economical aspect of our sport. The multi-stage events we have implemented during the season like the Tour de Ski and the World Cup Final showed us that the fans love them and the interest strongly increased year by year.”

Race Director Jürg Capol added: “This new World Championship gives nations thar so far were not capable of organizing the full FIS Nordic World Ski Championships the chance to organize a Cross-Country Championship. I’m really satisfied with the decision of the FIS Congress.”