New FIS rules for 2010/2011 World Cup
Wed, Jun 9, 2010 - By FIS
Meetings of eight different Cross-Country Committees were held during the 47th International Ski Congress that took place in Antalya, Turkey from Monday, 31th May to Wednesday, 2nd June.
Some important topics concerning the World Cup calendar, rules and the new marketing concept were presented, discussed and confirmed by the FIS Cross-Country Committee and forwarded to review and decision by the FIS Council.
Race Director Assistant. As already announced in the spring, the permanent FIS Cross-Country team has grown. Beginning with the Antalya Congress, FIS Race Director Jürg Capol will be supported by FIS Race Director Assistant Pierre Mignerey from France. In order to formalize this position, the Rules and Control as well as the World Cup and Continental Cup Sub-Committees updated the World Cup Rules and International Competitions Rules (ICR). The Race Director Assistant will be the technical link between the teams and the Organizing Committees as well support the preparation and realization of the competitions.
Ski Exchange. A rule regarding the possibility to exchange skis during a competition was defined. In the future, a maximum of 3 exchanges are allowed in competitions up to 30 km, and a maximum of 4 exchanges in competitions longer than 30 km.
Ski Marking. The proposal of the Sub-Committee for Rules and Control for a rule which allows the removing of ski marking unless there is no advance request by the Jury was supported by the FIS Cross-Country Committee and approved by FIS Council.
Obstruction and Overtaking. In order to facilitate jury work, new articles concerning the definition of obstruction and overtaking responsibility were included in the ICR. Furthermore, new TD Guidelines will be developed by the ICR working group in the next months and presented during at the autumn meetings to support both TD education and Jury work.
Bonus Seconds. The rules concerning intermediate sprints for bonus World Cup points in long distance mass start races were also updated by allowing an additional bonus position in the long distances over 30 km (for ladies) and 50 km (for men). In terms of FIS points, the FIS Council also confirmed the FIS points system for the FIS Marathon Cups and agreed with a new FIS Points calculation system in multistage events (two or more stages).
FIS World Championships. All these changes were approved this week by the FIS Council while the proposal for an additional FIS World Championships in Cross-Country - a multi-stage World Championships every four years where there is no season highlight like the Olympic Games or FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was approved by the FIS Congress on Friday, 4th June.