Ferriani Elected President of Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation

(ATR) Italy's Ivo Ferriani ends Robert Storey's 16-year reign as head of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation in the first contested FIBT presidential election since 1994.

Ferriani defeated Storey of Canada, 22-20, with one abstention in elections at the FIBT's congress in Lake Placid Sunday. Storey was seeking his fifth term as president.

Ferriani will now be expected to deliver on his presidential campaign promise to introduce more transparency into FIBT affairs.

In his "Slide into the Future" program for change, he also plans to increase the appeal and visibility of bobsleigh, skeleton and luge.

Refining sport formats and introducing a fresh marketing strategy are also among his priorities.

Ferriani brings to the presidency experience in organising the bobsleigh, skeleton and luge events at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin and his work as technical director of the Italian national bobsleigh team. In his sporting career as a bobsleigh pilot, Ferriani twice won the national Italian championships.

Also elected to the FIBT Executive Board were: Andreas Trautvetter of Germany, vice president corporate and financial affairs; Christian Reich of Switzerland, vice president of sport. Kwang-Bae Kang, the new sport director of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic bid, topped Liston Bochette of the USA, 27-14, for the vice president of international affairs post.

David Tomatis of Monaco was elected vice president marketing and events, Eric Walter Maleson of Brazil was voted onto the board as vice president of communications and Wiltfried Idema of the Netherlands was elected vice president of legal affairs.

Delegates at the congress also heard reports from organizers of the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games and Sochi Winter Olympics. Construction has not yet started in the Black Sea resort on the new bobsleigh track for the 2014 Games.

There were no presentations from 2018 Winter Olympic bidders; Annecy, Munich and PyeongChang are vying to stage the Games after Sochi.

Other congress action included the passing of an amendment that expands the FIBT Athletes Advisory Committee to five members.

Korea was named as the venue for the 2011 FIBT Congress.

With reporting from Mark Bisson