Alpine skiing: World Championship, slalom, men, 2nd round: Johan Eliasch, President of the International Ski Federation FIS, at the award ceremony. +++ dpa picture radio +++
Photo: dpa/Michael Kappeler
An end is often a beginning at the same time. When the last decisions for the current Alpine World Cup season are made this weekend, behind the scenes things should already be about next winter, if possible even about the next two or three winters. Strictly speaking, however, something else needs to be discussed first, namely how future communication should be between the International Ski Federation Fis and a few of its most important national associations. According to Stefan Schwarzbach, board member of the German Ski Association (DSV), they primarily want to “set a few cornerstones for the basis of discussion in the coming weeks and months”.
The DSV and the associations from Austria, Switzerland and Croatia laid the basis for this rapprochement by withdrawing the lawsuit against the controversial re-election of Fis President Johan Eliasch last May. At that time, the delegates only had the option of voting for the Swedish-British businessman or abstaining. The statutes of the Fis do not provide for dissenting votes.
Some representatives from the associations whose support Eliasch had forfeited in his first year in office or had never had before left the hall during the election. Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Croatia then went to the Cas Sports Court because they were of the opinion that this procedure did not comply with Swiss association law. The judgment of the Cas, it was said last, should have been made this week – however, a decision had already been announced a few times and was always postponed.
“Our legal opinion has not changed,” Schwarzbach clarified. However, it was found that the situation “paralyzed the entire system”. After Fis had signaled its willingness to talk, the lawsuit was dropped “as a sign of good will” in order to resume dialogue. “We have to look ahead and develop a timetable for the upcoming important issues of calendar planning, marketing and the further development of sports,” said Schwarzbach.
It’s in the nature of things that Fis sees things a little differently – and sees it as a success. This means that there are no longer any doubts about the legality of Eliasch’s re-election, Fis announced last Wednesday. In any case, the association has always emphasized that the allegations made were “reckless” and “unfounded”. Fis is interested in leaving this “unfortunate episode” behind and concentrating on “what really counts: working together democratically and openly and creating the best conditions for our sport”.
So a fresh start? There are doubts, because the “democratic and cosmopolitan cooperation” that Fis is now calling for has not yet existed under Eliasch’s leadership. Eliasch took over the post from Gian Franco Kasper in 2021 – also with the support of the then President of the Austrian Ski Association, Peter Schröcksnadel. He had hoped that the longtime CEO of the ski manufacturer Head, Eliasch, would advance skiing with new visions, Schröcks Nadel explained. The ÖSV boss was probably just as interested in preventing one of Eliasch’s opponents from leading the world association: the head of Swiss Ski, Urs Lehmann.
When Eliasch came around the corner shortly before the 2022 election congress with his ideas, which he had previously only presented to a small group, but not to the Fis Council, there was displeasure. On the one hand, it was about marketing, which he wants to centralize – regardless of longer-term contracts between the individual associations and intermediaries. So far he has also failed to provide answers to questions about a concept for it. Another sensitive issue is the World Cup calendar. Although Eliasch always emphasizes to pay attention to the climate balance and to operate sustainably, at the same time he is planning more races in more countries. This year he sent the men to the USA a second time in February, he is planning World Cups in China and indoor ski areas. Eliasch even considers racing in Saudi Arabia to be justifiable “if they can offer a climate-neutral resort and it has no impact on the environment”. The consequence is that a few traditional venues will no longer be considered or will be considered less frequently in the future. But it cannot be “that a FIS president alone determines what a World Cup calendar looks like,” DSV sports director Wolfgang Maier recently criticized Eliasch’s business conduct in “Münchner Merkur” and “tz”. He was on the FIS World Cup Committee for 15 years. “The highest good was to set up a reliable plan for the organizers,” says Maier. For him, Eliasch is »a completely wrong person in this post«.
In January, the associations of Germany, Austria and Switzerland agreed to cooperate under the umbrella of the organization of Alpine country ski associations, which has been in existence for a good 50 years and which also includes France and Italy and maybe soon a few non-Alpine countries as well. They demonstrated the solidarity at the edge of the most prestigious ski race in the world. In Kitzbühel, those responsible for DSV, ÖSV and Swiss Ski announced closer cooperation and posed for a media-friendly photo in the finish area a few meters away from Eliasch.
With the exception of the central marketing, which should apply to all disciplines in Fis, and Fis Games, which Eliasch wants to organize next year, his controversial ideas focus on the alpine division. For the other sports with tradition – cross-country skiing, ski jumping or Nordic combined – visions are limited. However, Eliasch wants to turn the Ski World Cup into a Formula 1 of winter sports. While he spent almost two weeks at the Ski World Championships in Courchevel and Méribel and regularly held the award ceremonies, he only paid a short visit to the Nordic title fights in Planica and to the Snowboard and Freestyle World Championships in Georgia. The fact that Head, which Eliasch says it still owns, focuses primarily on the production of alpine skis is possibly a coincidence.
