FIS's Inspection Commission Sochi Freestyle and Snowboard Venues

Following the Olympic Results Information Service (ORIS) homologation testing of the systems in Sochi (RUS) in early July 2013, the FIS Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard staff met with experts of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee for another site inspection.The Extreme Park in Kasnaya Polyana/Rosa Khutor, the site of the Olympic Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard competitions is now in its final preparation phaseof the six courses, with only a few fine-tuning adjustments remaining.

While the previous inspection in May 2013 focused on an extensive review of the test competitions, this time the first off-snow inspection of the finish area design took place in order to ensure all logistical expectations, between the sport, media and teams can be met during Games’ time.
"As we are running five back-to-back Snowboard events for ladies and men, another use of every meter of space is predetermined", highlighted FIS Snowboard Race Director Uwe Beier.
On the Freestyle Skiing side, which also features five events and 10 competitions, things are looking positive as well: "Our focus was clearly on the set-up of the finish area with the rights holders, mixed zones and coaches’ zones getting defined. After five years of planning and work, it is good to see the end in sight, but the last ten percent of work usually takes the most effort. We can now imagine that the setting is going to be very special for all of our competitions", underlined FIS Freestyle Skiing Coordinator Joseph Fitzgerald.
Aside from the finish area, comments and remarks from the test competitions, schedules, as well as roles and duties of National Technical Officials were reviewed in detail.
Additionally, the first traces of the Olympic spirit have been seen by the FIS representatives: "Besides the sport-related issues, it is good to see the construction dust slowly disappearing and the resort coming alive. We already saw many tourists who came up from the city enjoying their time in the mountains and in Rosa Khutor", concluded Uwe Beier.

Sochi was elected as the host city for the XXII Olympic Winter Games at the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City on 4 July 2007. The Sochi 2014 Games will play host to the seven Olympic Winter sports (Skiing, Skating, Luge, Biathlon, Ice Hockey, Curling, and Bobsleigh) currently on the Olympic programme and will run from 7 to 23 February 2014.

Best of the Alps continues World Snow Day partnership

For the first two editions of World Snow Day, Best of the Alps has created a series of meaningful and exciting events for some very special children and hasagreed to extend its participation for the 3rd edition in 2014.
Many of the Best of the Alps member resorts are famous locations for FIS World Cup events. Popular for their well-established infrastructure, their close links to the region in which they are located and their blend of tradition and progress, they are some of the best known winter ski destinations in Europe’s Alpine countries.

For the second edition of World Snow Day on 19th January 2013, a selected group of Best of the Alps Resorts have worked closely with the SOS Children’s Villages, BMW and ADAC (the German Automobile Association). Children from SOS Children’s villages in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Austria have been transported to the nearest Best of the Alps resort to enjoy a day on the snow. To ensure the children have the best time, a series of great activities were provided to help them explore, enjoy and experience the snow.
World Snow Day is the second phase of the 'Bring Children to the Snow' campaign. The first phase of the campaign, called SnowKidz, was launched in 2009. The SnowKidz project aims to encourage FIS Member National Ski Associations to promote snow sports within their country.
The concept for World Snow Day was developed by FIS in consultation with other organizations involved in snow sports, such as the National Ski Associations, their ski clubs and event organizers, ski schools, ski industry, tourism organizations, mountain lift associations and many more, in order to tackle the general decline in youth participation in snow sports. The World Snow Day aims to support and encourage involvement from children and families alike with the goal of creating a new channel to reach the younger target groups and to bring newcomers to snow whilst offering something special to those who already participate.

Best of the Alps is the European collaboration of the twelve world famous tourist destinations of the Alps - Chamonix Mont-Blanc, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Davos, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Grindelwald, Kitzbühel, Lech/Zürs am Arlberg, Megève, Seefeld, St. Anton am Arlberg, St. Moritz and Zermatt. Best of the Alps is the only organisation of this size at this level and has existed for more than 20 years. In 2011, FIS President Gian Franco Kasper was honoured with the Best of the Alps Award. It is an honour bestowed every year by the twelve members of Best of the Alps Classic Mountain Resorts presented to persons in recognition of their outstanding services and achievements in the spheres of sport and tourism that serve to promote and enhance the cultural, social and political life of the European Alpine region.

Engadin St. Moritz Selects Inntopia to power its reservation center

Inntopia is pleased to announce the premier Swiss resort of Engadin St. Moritz as its first European destination.
Booking a ski vacation at St. Moritz, Switzerland just became easier, as Engadin St. Moritz has selected Inntopia to power its reservation center. Inntopia offers a flexible system that enables reservations for everything that St. Moritz has to offer. For guests, this means that all services -from hotel and lifts to ski schools and ski rental - can be booked simply and conveniently online through the central tourism website, www.engadin.stmoritz.ch for the coming winter season.

For Engadin St. Moritz, this partnership with Inntopia is an important milestone in their efforts to offer their guests an attractive holiday booking experience from a single source. "The ability to easily and dynamically combine different services with each other was the key reason we selected the Inntopia platform", says Ariane Ehrat, CEO of Engadin St. Moritz. "Besides making the booking process easy for guests, the new technology will also simplify the internal workings of our tourism organization".
Inntopia is already widely used by top vacation destinations in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The new partnership with St. Moritz represents Inntopia's first destination in the European market. "We are thrilled to add St. Moritz to the list of premier vacation destinations using Inntopia to power their reservations", says Trevor Crist, CEO of Inntopia. "Their decision validates that Inntopia's innovative reservation platform is as applicable to the European market as it is to the US, Canadian, and Australian markets".
Inntopia is the leading advanced reservation platform for the destination travel industry, powering destination resorts, ski resorts, tour operators, and travel suppliers. The Inntopia platform also gives agents access to popular activities and attractions in these same destinations. Skiing, heli-skiing, whitewater rafting, zip line treks, golf, fishing guides, and mountain biking are just some of the options available.
Travel providers manage their rates and availability directly in the Inntopia system, or connect through one of the many interfaces available. Agent commissions are processed by Inntopia as well, through their own commission clearing house.

Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee Presents Competition Schedule

The Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee has presented the Competition Schedule for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. The Sochi 2014 Games will be held from 7 – 23 February 2013.
The Competition Schedule includes information about all the competitions taking place during the Games and also the Olympic Ice Hockey tournament table, approved by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The Sochi 2014 Games will take place over 17 days and feature 7 Olympic sports. In total, 98 medals will be awarded. During the Games in Sochi 6,000 Olympic athletes and team members from around 85 countries will come to the Games.
The Sochi 2014 Sports Program has set an Olympic record, both for the overall number of competitions taking place as well the number of new events included in the program.
In total, 12 events have been added to the Sochi Olympic Games Sports Program. As a result, the total number of events and medals in the program is 98, of which 29 will be held in the Coastal Cluster and 69 in Mountain cluster. That is 12 more than at the Vancouver 2010 Games and 14 times more than at the Turin 2006 Games.

The Games in Sochi has a record number of events added to the program, far more than Albertville (11 new events), Salt Lake City (10 new events), Turin (6 new events) and Vancouver (2 new events).
9 of the 12 new events in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Program will feature one of the most progressive sports - skiing.
In addition women will compete in ski jumping for the first time in Olympic history.
The number of competitions taking place at the Games popular among young people has significantly increased as 8 events in freestyle skiing and snowboard (4 in each discipline) have been added to the Olympic program including ski halfpipe, ski slopestyle, snowboard slopestyle and snowboard parallel slalom.
Team events have also been added to the Sochi 2014 Olympic Program in 3 disciplines: figure skating, bobsleigh (relay) and biathlon (mixed relay).
The Olympic Competition Schedule has been approved by International Sports Federations, the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS), but may still undergo minor alterations. These can be followed on the official website of the Winter Games.

There are seven sports in the Olympic program. These are biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, skating, skiing, luge and ice hockey. Each of the sports is supervised by a separate international sports federation.
The next step of the program is the Olympic sports disciplines. There are 15 Olympic disciplines. There are disciplines where the name is that of the sport. These are biathlon, curling, luge and ice hockey. The remaining sports are split into the relevant disciplines. Thus, the skiing consists of six disciplines - Alpine skiing, Nordic combined, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, snowboard and freestyle skiing. Skating has three disciplines - speed skating, figure skating and short track. Finally, the bobsleigh includes two disciplines - skeleton and bobsleigh itself.
The number of sports and disciplines for inclusion in the Olympic program is determined 7 years before the Games (Olympic Charter). Thus, the sports and disciplines of the 2014 Games were determined by the IOC in 2007 at the IOC Executive Committee in Guatemala.
More recent changes concern the events. The number of events is fully consistent with the number of sets of medals, which will be contested at the Olympics - in Sochi there will be 98.
The Sochi 2014 Sports Program included 6 new events in April and the same amount in July 2011. The total amount of new added events in the Olympic program is 12. It is a record program increase in Olympic Winter Games history.

The Ski Week. The Alpine Tour

The Ski Week brand and concept is owned by European Travel Ventures - a private limited company registered in Stockholm, Sweden and the head office is in London, UK.
Following the steps of the Yacht Week, the company will launch in March 2014 the Ski Week. European Travel Ventures want to create the ultimate winter event. It will be a week filled with skiing, music, parties and guests from all over the world. Every day will be exceptional, every night something magical.
The Alpine Tour will survey the best resorts so that The Ski Week is the best it possibly can be when it is launched in 2014. A team of The Yacht Week veterans has been travelling across the Alps for 26 days searching for the deepest snow, intensest parties and the most unique resorts. The search started in Austria on 7th March, 2013, continuing through Switzerland, France and Italy. The goal is to offer you the best week of skiing you've ever had.

 

FIS SnowKidz Award 2014

In September 2013, the FIS member National Ski Associations will be invited to apply with their projects for the 3rd ‘FIS SnowKidz Award', presented as part of the ‘Bring Children to the Snow' campaign. This award aims to recognise and promote the best examples of bringing children to the snow in varying national circumstances.

The FIS SnowKidz Award 2012 was presented at the 48th International Ski Congress in Kangwonland (KOR). The judging panel had a difficult time deciding the final eight projects from 21 nominations. In the end, the judges could not separate Germany’s School Sport Concept and the Czech Republic’s SnowKidz events and the two countries tied for 1st position.
The FIS SnowKidz Award 2014 will be presented at the 49th International Ski Congress in Barcelona (ESP). Event Organisers wishing to apply must contact their National Ski Association who is the responsible organisation for submitting applications to FIS. Projects must be on-going or no older than two years. Each National Ski Association may submit a maximum of two projects. All eight projects selected for the final round and presented at the FIS Congress 2014 will receive a certificate and CHF 5’000. The winning projects will receive additional CHF 10’000 (1st prize), CHF 8’000 (2nd prize) and CHF 5’000 (3rd prize).

In November 2008, the FIS Council decided to initiate a campaign to 'Bring Children to the Snow'. The campaign has been divided into two dimensions: an International Communication Campaign and a National Activity Campaign with different projects and programs depending on the country.
The main aim of the FIS campaign is creating a pool of lifetime skiers and snow lovers among small children. The campaign is about bringing newcomers to snow and keeping those with initial experience there. At the same time, it is not focused on generating competitors for any particular FIS discipline in the first instance

FIS Awards Marketing and Commercial Rights to the 2019 and 2021 Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships

FIS awarded the marketing of all commercial rights to the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships and the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships taking place in 2019 and 2021 to Infront Sports & Media. This was announced after the spring meeting of the FIS Council in Cavtat-Dubrovnik.
The agreement between the federation and the international sports marketing company includes the distribution of worldwide media rights across all platforms and territories. It also covers the complete spectrum of marketing rights, including title sponsorship, presenting sponsorship and hospitality packages.

Furthermore, Infront will handle media production of the four events, transmitting an HD signal to broadcasters around the world.
Gian Franco Kasper, FIS President stated: "The FIS World Championships in the Alpine and Nordic Events have demonstrated their status amongst the most important winter sports events. We are confident that the new partnership between FIS and Infront to market and broadcast the Championships in 2019 and 2021 can develop them even further and especially on a global basis".
Bruno Marty, Executive Director Winter Sports at Infront, commented: "Covering two global event highlights, the agreement marks a milestone in the continuous enhancement of Infront’s top-level winter sports portfolio. We thank the FIS for its trust in our expertise and are proud to provide it with the full spectrum of commercial support out of one hand. We will greatly contribute our experience from marketing a majority of FIS World Cup events and further boost the commercial strength of the FIS Alpine and Nordic World Championships. The experience we have gained from jointly developing the media production standards for FIS World Cup events, will further contribute to an increased appeal".

The hosts for the 2019 and 2021 FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships are not yet determined. Bids for the 2019 Alpine event have been submitted by Are (Sweden) and Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA). Candidates for the 2019 Nordic event include Almaty (Kazakhstan), Oberstdorf (Germany), Planica (Slovenia) and Seefeld (Austria). A proven track record in the marketing of FIS events as media and/or marketing partner to the majority of national associations hosting FIS World Cup events across various disciplines, Infront is already profoundly involved in the sport on a global level. In this role, it has facilitated global media rights distribution through a collective approach, developed and produced attractive programming formats and increased worldwide visibility for the series. On the sponsorship side, Infront has successfully implemented a streamlined sponsorship approach across more than 50 races in Alpine skiing – guaranteeing high exclusivity and an impactful positioning to sponsors.

Together with the FIS, Infront has also established guidelines to ensure a consistent quality in media production across the entire season. Thanks to its know-how and capabilities in the field, the group has also produced selected events with its own team. In the past, Infront has already collaborated with FIS for the media rights distribution of the FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships outside of Europe. As a shareholder of FIS Marketing AG, it is involved in the marketing of FIS controlled rights to the FIS World Cup.

Infront Sports & Media, based in Zug, Switzerland, is one of the leading international sports marketing companies in the world. Infront has around 500 employees in 20 offices across 10 countries, including Austria, China, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland as well as countries hosting a major sports event. The company enjoys successful partnerships with 120 rights-holders and hundreds of sponsors and media companies.
In 2012, Infront successfully delivered over 3,300 event-days including 18 World Championships.