"Too inflationary"

Austria’s ski association “not a friend” of the FIS Games

ÖSV Secretary General Christian Scherer(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The Austrian Ski Association is fundamentally critical of the FIS Games, which are to be held for the first time in 2028. "We do not believe that it is necessary to establish an additional major event because it will become too inflationary and devalue or devalue the existing FIS World Championships, the Olympic Games and possibly even the World Cup," said ÖSV Secretary General Christian Scherer. "From that point of view, we are not a friend of this idea."

The games pushed by FIS President Johan Eliasch with competitions for all snow sports are to be held in years without Olympic Games or World Championships from 2028. According to the FIS, the event should be logistically more efficient and sustainable. FIS Secretary General Michel Vion said last fall that the winners would be FIS Games winners and also world champions.

"You might be able to appeal to younger target groups," said Scherer, adding that the FIS also wanted to focus more on music for this purpose. "That's obviously the basic idea I'm hearing from the FIS managers." However, he believes that it is "too much". It would devalue the existing products and events.

Open questions
In addition, the name is not very appealing. "Will you get a trophy then? Will you be the winner of the FIS Games? Apparently I'm not creative enough to imagine that," remarked the East Tyrolean.

For the ÖSV, a bid for the FIS Games is not currently on the agenda. According to the FIS announcement last fall, St. Moritz and Lillehammer/Hafjell are the two candidates for the premiere of the major event. The award is to be made following a recommendation from an evaluation commission at the FIS Congress on June 4, 2024.

Focus on Alpine or Nordic World Championships
"We in the ÖSV are really concentrating on great World Cup events and recurring Alpine or Nordic World Championships," said Scherer. After the Alpine World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm in 2025, the World Championships for freestyle, freeskiing and snowboarding will be held in Montafon in 2027. Hochfilzen is set to host the Biathlon World Championships in 2028 or 2029 and Ramsau the Nordic World Championships in the not too distant future. "And then, sooner or later, St. Anton will come around the corner again with a candidacy for the Alpine World Championships," revealed Scherer.