July 28, 2008 – Jurg Capol is the FIS Race Director for cross-country skiing, and travels the world overseeing all high level cross-country ski events on the FIS calendar. He is Swiss, and was a member of their National Team back in the 70s and 80s.

For our readers here in North America can you tell us a little about your history in skiing and what your job with FIS encompasses?
Jürg Capol: I’m the person responsible for cross-country skiing, and follow all of the FIS World Cups (WC), FIS World Ski Championships (WSC), and Olympic Winter Games (OWG). Through my job I manage various roles: coordinator, controller, advisor, sharing experiences, liaison between all of the World Cup, Organizing and Cross Country committees, liaison between marketing and sport, and between TV and sport etc.

With the Olympics coming up in Vancouver in 2010 and the World Cups in 2009 you’ll be spending quite a lot of time in Canada. Are there any special areas of concern for XC organizers in the next 20 months?
JC: I’m very positive about the level of preparation and how things are working according to the schedule. I feel very comfortable with the VANOC team and I’m convinced, they want do a good job. It will be a challenge to promote the WC events in 2009 and to reach a good audience. On my last visit we set a goal to have 10,000 spectators during the three days for the WC events. Of course, I’m not concerned about the audience levels during the Olympic Games.

The 2009 FIS World Championships are in Liberec, Cze this coming February and after this past year’s marginal experience with the World Cup they hosted, with organization and very bad snow conditions, are you satisfied that they will be successful this coming year? Is there a back-up site?
JC: Of course the pre-WSC event didn’t work as it should have, but after a lot of changes this summer a new team has been formed. That’s also the reason that I forced them to do the pre-WSC event. For any other WC I would have cancelled it in a similar situation, but I wanted to push them to open their eyes. The extreme experiences from last year will help them to organize a good WSC this season. Backup plans are quite different now and snow production won’t be a problem again. But you’re right, the team doesn’t have a lot of experience, consequently we’ll have another Czech Organizing Committee competition there in Jan 2009.

The sprint events seem to still be in some turmoil with the rough tactics and some courses are not well designed – classic courses are being double poled on skating skis. Also, the “Lucky Loser” concept is not clear to the general public. The more I watch, the more I get the feeling that 6 skiers are often too much for sprint courses, or the courses are too narrow for 6 skiers! What are the solutions to make these events better or are you happy with the present situation?
JC: Six athletes in each heat present more action and the lucky loser system adds other tactical aspects. Good high speed athletes, such as Angerer, Pankratov, Teichmann, Northug etc, have their opportunities to advance to the semi or final heats. I agree that we need the right course design for these types of races.

During the 70s, 80s and well into the 90s sport had big doping issues that were not being dealt with. In 1999 the IOC commissioned WADA to oversee the eradication of this cancer. The 10-year anniversary is coming up and I still have the feeling the dopers are winning. Can you comment on the status of the control methods and techniques in XC skiing? Who is responsible for out-of-competition testing and what is FIS’s responsibility in all this?
JC: After 2001, FIS increased the budget to fight against doping issues, many out-of-competition controls have been executed. To be honest, that’s the way, you will find the black sheep. Out-of-competitions can done by each NOC (National Organizing Committee) or by FIS agencies. Home visits, or tests during training camps are done frequently and the blood profiles of the best skiers are well documented. But I would be naive to believe that everything is functioning properly now. We still have to invest even more money to continue the fight against the black sheep. FIS follows WADA’s code, myself, I would suspend athletes that test positive for life. The only way to fight doping is to be a hardliner.

I noticed when looking at the World Cup Calendar for this coming year that the events for the Vancouver World Cup include a shortened version of the Pursuit. With the other sprint events that are scheduled doesn’t this make it a sprinters weekend? Any special reason for this change?
JC: We wanted to have a normal pursuit distance in Vancouver, but if we do some sprint athletes won’t compete at the Tour de Ski and prefer the proposed program. And don’t forget, the Canadian women’s team is one of favourites for the freestyle Team Sprint.

Following the recent FIS Congress I see there’s a separation of the FIS World Junior and U23 Championships, but it’s not clear what’s going to happen to the U23s in the future? Could you clarify this as in North America we feel this is an important stepping stone in the continued development of our young skiers.
JC: The Cross-country committee and myself proposed not to separate the JWSC and U23 Championships, but the council had other reasons and was afraid that the event is getting too big and it was difficult to find LOC’s (Local Organizing Committees). In 2009, we will have the U23 Worlds right before the JWSC in Praz-de-Lys (Fra) and we can guarantee a quality event. Otherwise, we could lose the U23, which means we have to present other arguments for FIS council to consider.

Jurg, thanks we appreciate your time. All the best this winter.
JC: Thank you.