Alpine skiing: Soon only 5 Austrians? FIS plans reduction of starter field

The Men’s Alpine Ski World Cup is to be made more attractive. One of the goals is to halve the number of starter fields. This was discussed four weeks before the start of the season in Sölden at the FIS calendar conference last week in Zurich. Already in the coming winter big nations like Austria or Switzerland will lose a starting place.

The ultimate goal is to have a maximum of 45 to 50 riders at the start in the men’s singles instead of the current 80. This measure is intended to make the World Cup more exclusive and more attractive. “There is a strong pressure from television to reduce,” explained Markus Waldner.

The goal of drastically reducing the size of the men’s starting fields has been under way for quite some time now. “An average of 80 riders at the start, that’s no longer a World Cup. To race 92 runners in Sölden is complicated”, the men’s race director looked forward to the upcoming World Cup opening in Austria at the end of October.

Races with significantly reduced starting fields would have great organisational advantages. Waldner is convinced that television stations could design their products better and would have more time for storytelling and background reports. In this way, the main workplace of Marcel Hirscher and Co. will be made more attractive and the World Cup will be strengthened as a premium product. At the same time the second league – i.e. the continental cups like the European Cup – is to be upgraded by a dynamic system. Successful runners, for example, could already be promoted to the World Cup during the season.

Waldner is aware that reductions at World Cup level are painful for some ski federations. “In the first step, the red pencil was applied to the major nations such as Austria, Switzerland and France,” explained Waldner. “You’ve already taken the rap. Now the second step must be taken, in which even the middle and small nations lose places.”

The measures by which the large reduction can be achieved must now be debated. The big cut is said to have taken place in about two years. It’s quite possible that big ski nations like Austria will only have 5 runners at the start of a men’s race. After evaluation over the winter, the next steps are to be approved at the spring meeting in Dubrovnik. Responsible for the World Cup in the FIS is the Swede Niklas Carlsson.

Another focus in Zurich was the standardization of the rules for parallel races. There are currently a wide variety of formats and regulations for the relatively young competitions. These are to be harmonised in such a way that in 2019/20 they will already be operated under uniform conditions. A parallel individual competition is scheduled for 2021 in Cortina d’Ampezzo for the first time as well as a World Cup competition.