Good_Deed
Active member
The FIS proposal to use shared judges for snowboard and freeski events has been shot down.
Member nations nixed a proposed shared-judges system for the 2014 Winter Olympics at
the International Ski Federation's (FIS) biannual Congress in South
Korea last week. The system was originally intended to save money by
using one or more of the same officials to judge the freeskiing and
snowboarding events, but it drew widespread opposition from athletes and national governing bodies.
"From what I observed, there was near unanimous support for separate
judging panels," U.S. Freeskiing and Snowboarding director Jeremy
Forster wrote in an e-mail after the Congress.
FIS also released its World Cup schedules for the upcoming freeski
and snowboard seasons at the Congress. On the scheduling side, it
appears date conflicts between FIS World Cups and major non-FIS events
-- such as the X Games and Dew Tour -- will be minimal. However, neither
the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) nor snowboarding's
TTR competition body had released its complete world tour schedule as of
this week. (AFP general manager Steele Spence confirmed some event
dates in a preliminary schedule shared Thursday afternoon, and AFP
co-founder Michael Spencer also brought that schedule to Korea in an
attempt to minimize conflicts.)
According to the FIS website, the freeskiing World Cup circuit
includes eight venues in seven nations, with six slopestyle events and
six halfpipe events, starting with a World Cup halfpipe contest in New
Zealand in August. That's a large increase from last winter, when each
discipline only had two World Cup events, all but one of which took
place in the U.S.
The snowboarding World Cup schedule
includes six stops in five countries, with six halfpipe contests and
three slopestyle contests -- an increase from four pipe events and one
slope event last winter.
Both sports will stage a week of World Cup events in February to test
the 2014 Olympic venues in Sochi, Russia. They will also hold the
biannual FIS World Championships in Voss, Norway (freeskiing), and
Stoneham, Canada (snowboarding). Two U.S. Grand Prixs are included on
the World Cup schedule: Copper Mountain, Colo., will host pipe and slope
competitions in both freeskiing and snowboarding in early December, and
Park City, Utah, will follow suit in mid-January with freeskiing pipe
and slope events and a snowboarding halfpipe contest.
Thus far, despite a few tight travel windows between events, it
appears the most notable date conflict lies in snowboarding, where a
halfpipe World Cup is scheduled for Ruka, Finland, on the same December
weekend as the Breckenridge Dew Tour.
With individual Olympic qualification not taking place until the
winter of 2013-14, it's unlikely any of the sports' top competitors will
attend every World Cup event this winter. Canadian ski halfpipe coach
Trennon Paynter, for instance, said in an e-mail that his team's
priorities are to attend the Copper event and the Sochi event, but the
rest are undetermined.
U.S. Freeskiing and Snowboarding director Forster added: "I am sure
some events/dates will get adjusted over the summer and we may see some
additions/revisions during the fall meetings to the World Cup
calendars."
sparknotes no cross over judging
Member nations nixed a proposed shared-judges system for the 2014 Winter Olympics at
the International Ski Federation's (FIS) biannual Congress in South
Korea last week. The system was originally intended to save money by
using one or more of the same officials to judge the freeskiing and
snowboarding events, but it drew widespread opposition from athletes and national governing bodies.
"From what I observed, there was near unanimous support for separate
judging panels," U.S. Freeskiing and Snowboarding director Jeremy
Forster wrote in an e-mail after the Congress.
FIS also released its World Cup schedules for the upcoming freeski
and snowboard seasons at the Congress. On the scheduling side, it
appears date conflicts between FIS World Cups and major non-FIS events
-- such as the X Games and Dew Tour -- will be minimal. However, neither
the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) nor snowboarding's
TTR competition body had released its complete world tour schedule as of
this week. (AFP general manager Steele Spence confirmed some event
dates in a preliminary schedule shared Thursday afternoon, and AFP
co-founder Michael Spencer also brought that schedule to Korea in an
attempt to minimize conflicts.)
According to the FIS website, the freeskiing World Cup circuit
includes eight venues in seven nations, with six slopestyle events and
six halfpipe events, starting with a World Cup halfpipe contest in New
Zealand in August. That's a large increase from last winter, when each
discipline only had two World Cup events, all but one of which took
place in the U.S.
The snowboarding World Cup schedule
includes six stops in five countries, with six halfpipe contests and
three slopestyle contests -- an increase from four pipe events and one
slope event last winter.
Both sports will stage a week of World Cup events in February to test
the 2014 Olympic venues in Sochi, Russia. They will also hold the
biannual FIS World Championships in Voss, Norway (freeskiing), and
Stoneham, Canada (snowboarding). Two U.S. Grand Prixs are included on
the World Cup schedule: Copper Mountain, Colo., will host pipe and slope
competitions in both freeskiing and snowboarding in early December, and
Park City, Utah, will follow suit in mid-January with freeskiing pipe
and slope events and a snowboarding halfpipe contest.
Thus far, despite a few tight travel windows between events, it
appears the most notable date conflict lies in snowboarding, where a
halfpipe World Cup is scheduled for Ruka, Finland, on the same December
weekend as the Breckenridge Dew Tour.
With individual Olympic qualification not taking place until the
winter of 2013-14, it's unlikely any of the sports' top competitors will
attend every World Cup event this winter. Canadian ski halfpipe coach
Trennon Paynter, for instance, said in an e-mail that his team's
priorities are to attend the Copper event and the Sochi event, but the
rest are undetermined.
U.S. Freeskiing and Snowboarding director Forster added: "I am sure
some events/dates will get adjusted over the summer and we may see some
additions/revisions during the fall meetings to the World Cup
calendars."
sparknotes no cross over judging
