FIS News In Brief - Week 3, June 18

PyeongChang 2018 reports earning profits
During the recently concluded PyeongChang 2018 Debrief staged in Beijing last week, the Olympic Winter Games hosts reported that they expect to have a multi-million dollar profit from the Games.

The news was given by PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee President Lee Hee-beom in his report during the debrief Lee said, "we are in the process of putting together the final figures, but we expect a positive result."

The result was made possible by the close cooperation with the Korean government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). "When I took the presidential job two years ago, there was a deficit of around 300 Million dollars. But the implementation of Agenda 2020 played an essential role to improve finances.”

German 2018 Olympic Medal winners honoured
All of the German medal winners from the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in have received the laurel leaf in silver by Germany's Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during an official ceremony at the Bellevue Palace.

The laurel leaf in silver is the highest honour an athlete can be awarded in Germany.

Local voters say no to Sion 2026 bid
The field of hopeful cities to host the 2026 Olympic Winter Games was reduced from seven to six last weekend after local voters in the Canton of Wallis (SUI) voted no in a referendum against releasing funding of CHF100 million for Sion to bid to host the Games.

Despite the ‘no’ vote from the Swiss, there is still no shortage of strong and experienced candidates to host the 2026 Olympics. Calgary (CAN) Graz (AUT), Swedish capital Stockholm, Erzurum (TUR), Sapporo (JPN) and an Italian bid to be defined between Cortina d’Ampezzo, Milan and Turin are all included the initial phase.

There is considerable Olympic experience in the field with Calgary having hosted the 1988 Winter Games and Sapporo having staged the 1972 edition. Cortina is also a former host, having organized the 1956 Olympic Winter Games as is Turin most recently in 2006. Stockholm hosted summer Games in 1912.

The cities will now enter a dialogue stage until October when the IOC will invite an unspecified number of them to take part in the one-year candidature phase.

David Morris waves goodbye to Aerials career
Another star from Australia's "Flying Kangaroos" aerials team, 33 year-old David Morris has decided to retire after 15 years of competing and training at the highest level.

Since his debut on the FIS Freestyle aerials tour in 2009, Morris competed in 44 World Cups, four World Championships and three Winter Olympic Games with his highlight performance coming in Sochi, where he won the silver medal. He also placed second at the FIS World Championships in Sierra Nevada 2017 and is one of only four athletes to have ever landed a quintuple-twisting triple flip on snow.

Despite hanging up his ski boots, Morris won't be taking a break from sport and will continue to inspire new generations as a coach.