FIS News In Brief - January 2018, Week 1

Last week, the IOC announced a list of 76 inspiring young people who will serve as Young Change-Makers for the Summer Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018.

Among them is snowboarder Ty Walker (USA) who was nominated by her respective National Olympic Committee, USOC.

The Young Change-Makers have one mission in common – to support the young YOG athletes and to inspire other young people in their communities. They will encourage the young athletes to interact with people from different sports and backgrounds and to take part in a unique programme of activities and workshops, featuring sessions on injury prevention, anti-doping, careers in sport and media training. The lessons learned will equip the athletes with the sports skills to perform to the best of their ability on the field of play, and the life skills to be true ambassadors of their sport off the field of play.

Road to PyeongChang – Stefano Gross

With less than 50 days to the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang 2018, slalom whiz Stefano Gross (ITA) opens up about his Olympic dreams and the reason why the Olympics are so special to him.

Greek athletes honoured

For the first time in the history of the Hellenic Ski Federation two of its athletes were selected amongst the best athletes of the year by the Greek Association of Sports Journalists (PSAT).

Cross-country skier and biathlete Maria Tsakiri, daughter of famous cross-country and biathlon athlete Thanassis Tsakiriis as well as Apostolos Angelis, cross-country skier and biathlete, who was the first torchbearer following the lighting of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic flame on 24th October 2017 in Ancient Olympia, were honoured for their excellent achievements in the past season.

Marcello Varallo passes torch to his son Andy

Marcello Varallo is an icon in Alta Badia. After his career as an alpine skier, which included three World Cup podiums, he engaged himself in the touristic development of Alta Badia with the dream of bringing the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup to his home town. In 1982, he founded the Ski World Cup Organising Committee and in 1985, Alta Badia hosted its first FIS World Cup event, a giant slalom on the Gran Risa, won by Ingemar Stenmark (SWE).

Since then, Alta Badia has developed into a top World Cup host helping to shape Alpine Skiing significantly. In 2015, the first ever parallel giant slalom was held in Alta Badia, and the exciting night race proved to be a true highlight and has become a fixture on the World Cup calendar.

After 18 years as President of the Organising Committee, Marcello Varallo passed the torch to his 37-year old son, Andy Varallo, who has served as General Manager of the event for the past ten years.

“It is my last year as President of the Ski World Cup Alta Badia. I want to thank all the partners that believed in this project and worked hard for its realisation. It was a unique experience for me and I will always remember those moments filled with passion and affection,” said Marcello Varallo.

Anti-Doping Update

The FIS Doping Panel issued a two-year suspension (1.1.2017-31-12-2018) to Italian cross-country skier Marina Piller. Piller is no longer an active FIS athlete and has 21 days to appeal the decision. It was the first FIS case using data based on the biological passport.

The IOC sanctioned an additional 11 athletes from the Oswald Commission hearings in the context of the Sochi 2014 forensic and analytic doping investigations. Three Cross-Country skiers Nikita Kryukov, Alexander Bessmertnykh and Natalia Mateeva were among the 11 athletes

The life of trial jumpers

The job of trial jumpers is one of the most essential ones during a Ski Jumping competition. The latest edition of Behind the Scenes by FIS Nordic Combined puts them into the spotlight, explains what they do and why their job is so important.

Hosting a Nordic Trifecta

It takes a lot to host a World Cup. Even more when it is not just one discipline but Cross-Country, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined all together. FIS Cross-Country chatted with the World Cup Organisers of Lillehammer (NOR) to get an inside look.

Individual parallel slalom

Although several formats currently feature racers competing side-by-side – including the city event and alpine team event – the new event of individual parallel slalom (PSL) debuted for the ladies' tour at Courchevel (FRA) last week. FIS Alpine took a look behind the scenes.