Ski Federation Family to Convene in Slovenia

(ATR) The International Ski Federation Strategic Plan, rules and regulations and determining next winter’s calendar are all on the agenda as FIS convenes in Portoroz, Slovenia for its annual Calendar Conference later this month.

Four days of meetings will be held at the Grand Hotel Bernardin in the Adriatic seaside resort town, May 24-28, approximately two months since the conclusion of the World Cup ski and snowboard season.

Various Alpine sub-committees and working groups will review the past season, make calendar adjustments, discuss rules and regulations and exchange ideas and views on the future of Alpine skiing ahead of next winter’s PyeongChang 2018 Games.

Two potential Alpine rule adaptations will be discussed and decided in Portoroz – a change in the starting order procedures for downhill training runs and a reduced starting field for the occasional city event races.

An update and further details on the FIS Strategic Plan will be provided to participants on the morning of May 27.

The FIS Council will meet on May 28 with important items including proposals from technical committees, confirmation of next winter’s World Cup calendar, membership applications from new National Ski Associations and selection of the host city for the 2020 FIS Congress on the docket.

Also scheduled in Portoroz are initial briefings with the four candidates who have submitted applications to host the 2023 FIS World Championships – two for Alpine and two for Nordic.

Courchevel-Meribel, France and Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria seek to win the 2023 Alpine Championships, while Planica, Slovenia and Trondheim, Norway hope to land the 2023 Nordic Worlds.

Meribel was home to women’s Alpine events at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games, while Courchevel was the setting for ski jumping.

"All four candidates bring a wealth of organizational experience at the highest levels and we anticipate their bids to be both exceptional and very diverse for the FIS World Championships in 2023," said FIS President Gian Franco Kasper.

All four candidate cities are required to submit their detailed concept plans by Sept. 1 in accordance to FIS guidelines.

The two winning organizers will be selected at the 51st International Ski Congress in Costa Navarino, Greece, in June 2018.

Final plans and fine-tuning for the 2017-18 winter ski season will take place at the next FIS meeting slated for Zurich in early October.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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