Alpine skiing – Ski World Cup: A bit of peace

Visually, things couldn’t have gone better for Gurgl in Austria: fresh snow and crisp temperatures – the wintry panorama provides wonderful television images when the best ski racers fight for World Cup points in the slalom in the Tyrolean Alps on Saturday and Sunday.

It is the third Alpine weekend in this very young season, and unlike in the past two years, this time the races are not dominated by discussions about the competition calendar, pointless trips and a sustainability concept that doesn’t deserve the name. This may also be because with the return of Marcel Hirscher (Austria) and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (Norway/Brazil) as well as the upcoming comeback of Lindsey Vonn (USA), there were and still are other, much nicer stories about alpine skiing .

But things have actually calmed down somewhat, at least as far as the World Cup calendar is concerned. The International Ski Federation has adapted, and has had to adapt, after the massive criticism and pressure from athletes because of the rush to meet deadlines and the many injuries last winter. The World Cup downhill in Zermatt at the beginning of November, the pet project of the controversial Swedish-British FIS President Johan Eliasch, was canceled from the program after the premiere in 2022 was canceled due to a lack of snow and last year’s event was canceled due to wind and fog.

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In addition, there is no second trip to the USA in the middle of the season, but only at the end for the World Cup final. In Kitzbühel (Austria), a Super-G will now be run again instead of a second downhill, and after returning from overseas in December, the women will have to take part in the first downhill training in St. Moritz (Switzerland) not three days later. There are only two Super-G races planned in the Engadine, for which there are no training runs. So arrive on Friday instead of Wednesday.

On the other hand, due to the early onset of winter at higher altitudes, there were no major challenges for the race director before the start in Sölden (Austria). At the end of October, not only the World Cup course, which is always prepared early with depot snow, was covered in white, but also the meadows and rocks around it. And next year the start of the season will be pushed back a week, to the first weekend in November, as many experts and protagonists in the ski circuit have been demanding for a long time.

The only thing that caused a slight lack of understanding was the fact that the World Cup entourage from Sölden first traveled to Levi in ​​Finland last week only to return to the Ötztal. However, there are efforts to combine the dates of both World Cup events. It would make sense to move together, said the head of the Gurgl organizing committee, Albin Scheiber. The two World Cup locations have already held talks with the Austrian Ski Association. “But it won’t happen that quickly, maybe the year after next,” says Scheiber.

In fact, things have calmed down somewhat.

Everything harmonious? It’s not quite like that. The athletes complained that they had not been heard in the process surrounding the introduction of the wild card – the right to start for former athletes without the necessary number of FIS points immediately after the best 30 – as is usually the case with such rule changes. But since Marcel Hirscher’s return is brilliant PR for skiing, the grumbling quickly stopped.

And then there was a court case that didn’t end well for the FIS. The German Ski Association (DSV) had filed an application for an interim injunction against the world association’s decision to market the World Cup events centrally in the future. This was approved in October. The judges at the Munich regional court saw the proposed central marketing as “an intended restriction of competition” and that this was not justified in the specific case, they said. In addition, the lawyers found, the FIS was exploiting its “dominant market position to the detriment of the German Ski Association.”

Like the other large ski associations, the DSV had always emphasized that it was not fundamentally against central marketing, but they did demand a say in the contractual structure. The Austrian Ski Association has also legally defended itself against the FIS decision, but a verdict is still pending. The FIS had let it be known that it would appeal and insist on central marketing, but at the same time it had begun to negotiate. DSV board member Stefan Schwarzbach said they have been holding “intensive discussions” for three weeks – with success, it looks like. “A solution is emerging that we hope will be viable for the entire sport of skiing,” says Schwarzbach. And this agreement certainly doesn’t mean that the national associations will let the FIS dictate everything to them.

Has President Eliasch, who constantly caused offense with his questionable communication and leadership style in the first three years of his presidency, come to his senses? Hardly. The sudden willingness to compromise is more likely to have something to do with his bid to succeed Thomas Bach as President of the International Olympic Committee. Every court case not only costs money, but also creates a lot of negative headlines, especially if you lose it. And Eliasch can’t use any more of that as a candidate for the post at the top of the IOC.

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