Ski-ing balance shifts

Press, 28 May 1979, Page 32

Ski-ing balance shifts

Southern ski-ing nations made a lot of ground at the thirty-second congress of the F.I.S. (International Ski Federation) in Nice, according to the New Zealand delegate, Mr Richard Johnson,

Mr Johnson said yesterday on his return to Christchurch that the “overwhelming power” of the big countries had been countered somewhat by the small nations’ getting together on issues that affected them. It was New Zealand’s first appearance at the congress for a few years, and Mr Johnson’s travel was partly covered by a grant from the Ministry of Sport and Recreation.

“Before the congress it was feared that even more F.I.S. rules than before would favour the Northern Hemisphere countries unless the southern nations took a stand. Several of the rule changes made at Nice should work M New Zealand’s advantage.

The Europa F.I.S. downhill, at Mount Hutt in July,

can now probably be a onerun event as the minimum length has been reduced from 750 m to 500 m.

At last year’s F.I.S. series a course of only 460 m was possible because of the condition of the snow further down the mountain, but even if an extra run is necessary this time there is still cause for satisfaction as another rule change relaxed the points penalty for a tworun downhill.

Just as encouraging for those wishing to lower their F.I.S. start points in international downhills at Mount Hutt is Mr Johnson’s report that it is now possible to hold two downhill events within 30 days at the same venue. The talented Canadain downhill team will train at Mount Hutt for some weeks.

Another plus from the congress is that all nations will now be represented on the Alpine Ski Committee of the F. 1.5.,, so New Zealand will have a seat for the first time. This committee makes changes to racing rules and

receives and adopts reports from other committees such as classification (points), alpine courses, and the World Cup. Forty-one of the 48 member nations attended the congress and New Zealand was given two votes, on the basis of the number of its affiliated skiers. “From our point of view it was important to be there. We haven’t been represented for a while,” said Mr Johnson. One interesting development at the congress was the decision to take grass ski-ing and freestyle (normally run on a professional basis) under the wing of the F.I.S. Special Committees were formed for both these sports. Mr Johnson said that the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, had come under a lot of fire from the ski-ing industry. The main problem was that environmentalists had control of the venue and only 9000 spectators, with all tickets pre-sold, would be allowed.