FIS Athletes’ Health Unit (AHU) Established & Growing Operations
As part of the ‘Athlete-First’ focus in the newly published FIS Strategic Plan, the FIS Athletes’ Health Unit (AHU) has been established and is currently growing its operations to reach the goal of being a one-stop resource for athletes and NSAs on safety, health and equipment themes that impact them most.
Under the motto ‘Long-term athlete performance through physical and mental health’, the projects under the AHU umbrella have the ultimate goal of further ensuring the safety and well-being of all FIS athletes.
The AHU has its roots in Alpine as it started as a Working Group to address various equipment and injury topics that were prevalent in the discipline. Now the aim is to include all disciplines, which will be fully served by the AHU as it works with the stakeholders across FIS to determine the projects that need the most attention, both discipline specific and FIS-wide.
Currently, the AHU has three pillars of focus:
- Athlete-related projects
- Equipment-related projects
- Framework-related projects
Already during this past season, a few projects were completed under the AHU umbrella. In the Athlete pillar, an injury survey distributed and analyzed during the 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. In the Equipment pillar, there was extensive work and research completed regarding the use of Airbags during Alpine speed races. Other Alpine equipment themes are also being investigated, such as cut-resistant underwear and a smart binding – just to name a few of various ongoing activities.
Those projects will naturally continue, but the main focus during the summer months will be to onboard the National Ski Associations and all other relevant stakeholders. This will enable the AHU team to gather as much information and data to determine which projects will take priority in the next cycle.
Currently heading the AHU are familiar faces to the FIS family, Michael Lasshofer and Gerald Mitterbauer who have built the AHU up during the last winter in close collaboration with FIS colleagues, former athletes, coaches´ representatives and other relevant stakeholders. At the recently concluded Spring Technical Meetings, they held numerous meetings with the key stakeholder groups, including the FIS Athletes’ Commission, to allow them to get a head start on planning the projects that will be activated this winter.
“We are really excited to roll up our sleeves in the upcoming months to determine where and how the AHU can have the biggest impact,” they say. “Athletes are at the heart of FIS and we are proud to be a part of making sure they can be as safe and healthy as possible throughout their careers.”
For questions, input or project proposals for the AHU, please contact:
michael.lasshofer@fis-ski.com
gerald.mitterbauer@fis-ski.com
