FIS Alpine World Cup Sub Committee Updates

From 27th to 29th September 2023, the FIS Committee Meetings took place in Zurich (SUI).. As usual, to conclude the intense week of meetings with key stakeholders, Friday is dedicated to the members of the sub-committee for the Alpine World Cup, which gathers to discuss specific points and proposals for the upcoming seasons of alpine events.

2023/2024 Calendar

The 2023-24 season does not feature major events such as the Olympic Games or World Championships on the calendar, so next season's calendar sees traditional races and attractive new additions.

The “Matterhorn Cervino Speed Opening” was moved three weeks ahead of last year's calendar. In the women's calendar, the big new entry is Mt. Tremblant (CAN) with two giant slalom races in early December, Jasna (SVK) and Val di Fassa (ITA) will be back with a tech and speed weekend, respectively.

On the men's side, the slalom racers will have the opportunity to start the season earlier as usual, with the first slalom race scheduled in Gurgl (AUT) mid-November.
In February, the World Cup will be back in Kvitfjell (NOR) and Bansko (BUL) for a speed and a tech weekend.

The season will wrap up with the Saalbach (AUT) finals from 16 to 24 March 2024. This will be the first time the finals will be over two weekends. The first weekend will be dedicated to the technical events, with, as usual, the two genders racing on the same day in different disciplines, while the speed week will be more spread out. The Super-G races will be held on the same day, while the women's downhill will be on Saturday and the men's downhill on Sunday.

During the World Cup sub-committee meeting, the format of the Team Combined was discussed at length. The committee’s recommendation to the FIS Council is not to include the Team Combined on the 2023/24 World Cup calendar to allow more time to analyse and work on detailed rules to improve the product while respecting Fair Play. The Team Combined is still planned to be a part of the programme of future major events such as the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

Long-Term Calendar

One item on the agenda was devoted to the presentation of proposals for long-term calendars for the years 2024/25 and 2025/26.

Fluor Wax control

FIS confirmed full implementation of the fluor wax ban starting the upcoming season with carrying out testing at top-tier events: FIS World Cup, FIS World Ski Championships and other major events such as FIS Junior World Ski Championships. Testing at other level events will be carried out randomly to ensure those events are regulated.

FIS Junior World Ski Championships
The next Junior World Championships will be held in Les Portes du Soleil - Haute Savoie (FRA) from the 28th of January to the 3rd of February 2024.

FIS new strategies
Part of the meetings was devoted to new FIS strategies based on innovation, digitalization, new concepts, new TV ideas and graphics. The ongoing transformation is based on creating a new fan-oriented digital era to generate more reach, engagement, better access, and asset utilisation.

All the proposals mentioned above are subject to the approval of the FIS Council.