Markus Waldner in conversation: “Stop covering your eyes and ears”

Finally, a new FIS president will be elected on Friday, June 4th. And with that a new era will begin. Beforehand, the most important man in the men's World Cup answered our questions.

…about the last, probably most difficult World Cup winter of all time: “It was a huge challenge. But we can be proud of how we got through despite the corona pandemic. Except for the races in Wengen - which were not canceled by us, but by the local authorities - and those in Kvitfjell, racing was possible everywhere. By the end, only 22 people who tested positive had come together in the so-called World Cup bubble of athletes/coaches. This is an outstanding value considering where we were and how many people were traveling all over Europe for over 6 months.”

…about the World Cup final in Lenzerheide: “You always go home with the last impression. He was extremely unhappy. The season ended with an unpleasant, sad mood. As well as everything worked throughout the winter, the winter ended on a negative note due to the bad weather at the season finale. There were also discussions about the regulations - that wasn't good and it was a real shame. As FIS race directors, Peter Gerdol for the women and myself for the men were the targets of everyone. However, we didn’t make the existing rules.” “In the new World Cup calendar there are no combinations and no parallel races” …about the new season: “Gerdol and I have drawn up a new World Cup calendar that is designed simply: no combinations, no parallel races. The focus is on the 4 main disciplines downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom. We have planned 18 speed races and 18 in the technical disciplines, so that no one is advantaged or disadvantaged. We no longer wanted to put up with the fact that there was no balance in the current draft. We have heard the loud criticism, we are no longer closing our eyes and ears. But: Whether this calendar is approved will not be decided by us, but by the Executive Board of the 15 top nations on Sunday, May 9th. And because a new FIS president will be elected on June 4th, he can throw everything overboard again. For example, bring the controversial parallel races back into the program.”

FIS race director Markus Waldner had to manage a difficult season. © AFP / FABRICE COFFRINI

…about the political machinations in the FIS: “It is a complicated construct with 130 member associations. Each member association has the same weighting, i.e. the Austrian Ski Association ÖSV has the same weight as Barbados, Bolivia or Cameroon. That’s not necessarily helpful when it comes to setting rules for the world’s best athletes.”

…about the likely successor to the outgoing FIS President Gian Franco Kasper: “The FIS has only had 96 presidents in its 4-year history. The last two alone – Marc Hodler and Gian Franco Kasper/both Switzerland – held office for 2 years. The next president should be someone who will help us make racing more attractive. There should be smaller starting fields in the World Cup, possibly a kind of promotion and relegation so that the best European Cup riders could move up during a season, while the weaker ones from the World Cup would have to be relegated. We have a lot of ideas in the drawer. It remains to be seen whether we are able to implement them.” “We want smaller starting fields and promotion and relegation with the European Cup” ...about possible Corona problems next season: “We learned a lot from last season and will keep everything that worked. We will maintain the system of bubbles and continue to separate men and women as much as possible. The hope is that we can allow fewer spectators to the races. There will probably not be a return to normality before the 2022/23 season.”

…about the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing: “First let’s see what happens in Tokyo this summer. We only go to Beijing with little experience. The slopes are certainly great. What will cause us the biggest problems is not the pandemic, but the weather. It's an extremely windy area there. We also had this problem in Pyeongchang in 2018. We all finished the races there. Let’s hope we can do this again in 2022.”

The full media conversation with Markus Waldner can be found in the video here:

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Markus Waldner in conversation: “Stop covering your eyes and ears”

The Ski World Cup has been history for 6 weeks. Anyone who thought that FIS race director Markus Waldner had time to take a breather was seriously mistaken. On the contrary: the man from Brixen is in the middle of planning for the new season. Which are particularly difficult.

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