Like so many organizations, FIS, the governing body for international skiing, is a slow-to-change entity. Doping reforms, for example, have evolved but at a yawn-worthy rate. So in rather atypical fashion, like a finger snap, FIS voted to oust its Secretary General, Sarah Lewis, on October 9th. Lewis had been considered a lifer at FIS. She’d been on staff for two decades. News on the “why” of her removal remains sparse. Yet it was an...
The International Ski Federation announced last Friday that Secretary General Sarah Lewis has been relieved of her duties effective immediately. “At its meeting today, the FIS Council, including the members of the Marc Hodler Foundation, has decided by a great majority vote to terminate the employment relationship with Sarah Lewis (in accordance with its contractual terms) and that she is released from her work duties as the Secretary General of FIS, effective 9th October 2020.”...
This morning the International Biathlon Union (IBU) and the International Ski Federation announced they were postponing their fluoro wax bans until the 2021-2022 season. The stated reason in the IBU press release was the following: “allow more time to test and refine the Fluorine Tracker device that is currently under development.” FIS also claimed the device was not ready for use on the World Cup: “Despite the accuracy of the device measurement technology, testing also...
Last week, the International Ski Federation (FIS) concluded its fall Cross-Country Committee meetings. The most pressing issues are COVID related and concern the calendaring and running of safe events. Many variables remain in play, like how each hosting country experiences a predicted uptick in COVID cases this winter. Within this context, the Cross-Country Committee made several recommendations that have yet to be approved by the FIS Council. The FIS Council is scheduled to meet...
The local organizing club for the first cross-country Word Cup of the season, Kuusamon Erä-Veikot, announced on it’s website According to an official statement, the decision was made after consulting with the Finnish Ski Association and the International Ski Federation (FIS). However, organizers make clear that it still awaits “final confirmation” from FIS.
With the ever-evolving nature of the pandemic, two months out from our article titled “Covid-19 Trends and Early Season World Cups“, we thought it an appropriate time to review Covid-19 trends in Europe. If the International Ski Federation chooses not to modify Period 1 and Period II on the World Cup, Finland, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy will host already calendared events. In early June, when we first examined Covid-19 in those countries, the overall...
This won’t be easy. Seeing a “normal” World Cup season go down will take considerable coordination, stakeholder buy-in to behavioral modifications aimed at community wellness not necessarily individual needs, and broader control over the spread of Covid-19. Here in the U.S., the major sports, NBA, WNBA, NHL, MSL, and MLB, have opened their respective seasons. The models for each league differ, the NBA maintains a relatively strict bubble, whereas the MLB chose a more lax...
This news round has an eye towards the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) move to mitigate COVID spread on the World Cup as it eyes a new racing season. Before we delve into that, we wanted to raise some awareness to a most excellent non-ski related podcast. In short, it’s called TWIV. Longform, it’s “This Week In Virology: the podcast about viruses – the kind that make you sick.” No, it’s not The Devon Kershaw Show....
Matthias Scherge is the director of the Fraunhofer Microtribology Center in Germany. As one of the major European research institutes specializing in industrial lubricants, Scherge and his colleagues have a hand in the ski wax game. Currently, Scherge is assisting the International Ski Federation (FIS) to implement its fluoro-free policy. Specifically, they are determining the thresholds at which a positive or a negative test will be triggered when testing a ski base for fluoros. Scherge...
Last November, the International Ski Federation announced in a press release the banning of fluorinated waxes starting with the 2020-2021 race season. FIS states, “The use of fluorinated ski waxes, which have been shown to have a negative environmental and health impact were banned for all FIS disciplines from the 2020/2021 season.” Behind the scenes, the transition to fluoro free racing has begun both in Europe where the majority of World Cups are held, and...
A phrase we probably have all become familiar with: Risk assessment and Covid-19. The International Ski Federation (FIS) published guidelines last week to assist local organizing committees of FIS World Cups to mitigate community spread at races. This comes on the heels of FIS joining an initiative called #Sport4Recovery. According to FIS, the new entity aims to organize stakeholders and “highlight the importance of sport for mental and physical health recovery as well as...
Last week U.S. Ski and Snowboard announced the recipients of two awards. Gus Schumacher of Anchorage, Alaska, and newly minted U.S. B-Team member, won the Beck International Trophy recognizing the top athlete in international competition. He shared the honor with alpine skier Mikela Shiffrin. Schumacher comes off a year during which he won the 10 k classic at World Juniors and anchored the men’s 4 x 5 k relay to their second consecutive Word Junior’s...
This article has been updated to clarify the relationship between the junior races now known as FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships and its precursor, the World Junior Nordic Championships and the European Junior Nordic Championships. There are, to briefly traffic in the obvious, 60 seconds in a minute. Sixty seconds in a minute; 60 minutes in an hour; 3,600 seconds in an hour. Skiers measure their lives in these increments; we track total yearly training hours,...
First in a two-part series. Coming next week: The meaning of a single FIS point for national team selection. The recent news that David Norris was not named to the national team by the narrowest of margins, following the application of objective selection criteria tied to an athlete’s position on an overall FIS points world ranking list, has inspired FasterSkier to take a closer look at where these numbers come from. The goal of this...
Sports fans talk a lot about home field advantage. Which team will play at home at Game 7 of the World Series? Or in the playoffs before the Stanley Cup? Home turf and the swells of a crowd whose numbers are skewed toward the home team has an undeniable effect. Yes, the Norwegian team of Tiril Udnes Weng, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Therese Johaug, and Heidi Weng won yet another 4×5-kilometer relay with a time of...
To the point: thoughts and opinions on WADA’s decision to ban Russia from major international competitions for four years.
News today from the International Ski Federation’s Autumn Meeting in Constance, Germany will disrupt modern race-ski prep methodology. The Committee for Competition Equipment which is tasked with defining the technical specifications of all equipment used across the spectrum of FIS sanctioned snow sports: Cross-country skiing, nordic combined, ski jumping, alpine, snowboard, freestyle, and freeski, is calling for a ban on the use of all fluorinated ski waxes for the 2020/2021 season. “The use of fluorinated...
Vegard Ulvang at fifty six years old remains an icon in Norway. With Olympic and Championship medals, a World Cup Overall title in 1990, he’s in the lineage of Norwegian skiing royalty. Away from the tracks, Ulvang began and then sold a profitable clothing company. He fills his time making documentaries and television features. He is also, as you’ll hear at the top of the interview, committed to living a life of exploration, calculated risk,...
New IBU Secretary General Named On August 6th, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) announced Sweden’s Niklas Carlsson as its new Secretary General. At 44-years-old, Carlsson comes to the position with considerable experience in the world of alpine ski racing. According to the IBU press release, Carlsson served as the Secretary-General of the Swedish Ski Federation from 2011-2014. He has also worked for the International Ski Federation (FIS), and served on the Boards of two Swedish...
Press Release Cross Country Ski FIS World Cup on track for March 2020 Season Finale The Season Finale to be held at the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park will welcome the world’s best skiers from around the world to compete for 3 days in March 2020. CANMORE, ALBERTA July, 22 2019 – The Alberta World Cup Society (AWCS) just completed a successful pre-World Cup site visit by FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski), accompanied by FIS Marketing AG...