The website of the World Ski and Snowboard Federation Fis has always been a serious source of news, and since Johan Eliasch rose to become Fis President, that hasn’t exactly changed for the better – to say the least. In the past few days, however, one could exceptionally agree with the headline makers. The World Cup final in the team parallel race, the Fis rejoiced, produced all the elements that make this format so worth seeing.
The drivers from the USA and Norway had an exciting duel, the last duel between Tommy Ford and Timon Haugan culminating in a simple arc of suspense: the winner would give his team the title. It then hit Ford as Haugan got tangled up in the start gate in his excitement and almost somersaulted onto the track. American River Radamus later summed it up when he poured his love for the team event into the following formula: “It tickles a whole different energy in me.” Every momentum of the individual is in the service of a team, and so the Americans in Méribel also rewarded each other for disappointments that this individual sport had brought them before: broken bones, torn ligaments, the high expectations for junior titles, which Radamus despaired of for a long time.
Fis changed the rules more often than Hollywood actors changed their partners
It’s been around twelve years since they reintegrated the parallel races into alpine world championships and the World Cup – a classic of alpine sports that had previously been presented as a professional tour in the USA. In theory, it all didn’t sound bad, two drivers duel head to head; the entertaining event was primarily intended to reach a younger audience in a sport that draws heavily on its history. It took a while for them to translate the simple idea into practice, as the Fis changed the rules more often than Hollywood actors changed their partners. Drivers turned away, the format appeared less and less in the World Cup.
It has already been canceled for the 2026 Winter Games, allegedly because men and women ski in two different ski areas and it is not logistically feasible to bring them together for a competition. The discipline could then become Olympic again for 2030, it was said recently, at the same time new plans leaked out in France that the parallel races could therefore also be canceled at the upcoming world championships.
The preliminary punch line: At least in the team format, they had recently bent the rules in such a way that it was good to look at. The ratings, they say in the German Ski Association, were also passable, although the format at world championships takes place during the week, i.e. not during premium time. So now the dismantling, for which, as DSV sports director Wolfgang Maier now emphasized, not only the Fis are to blame, but also the national associations, which have not agreed on strict rules in various committees for a long time. In any case, that’s also a talent: to choose the kings in a discipline – and at the same time to rob them of their kingdom.