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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
1. Uniforming the U.S. track & field team is anything but uniform
2. U.S. wins 25 medals, MacNeil has seven at Pan Am Games
3. Paris 2024 tower plan for Tahiti being protested
4. Bob-luge-skeleton site for 2026 now more confused
5. Feisty FIS slaps back at “Protect Our Winters” petition
● Outfitting the U.S. track and field team is a big task, with as many as 20 national teams competing each year. International team logistics chief Brad Birling explained the process, the enormous number of items involved and the choices each athlete gets to make, explaining why there is so little uniformity in the American uniforms.
● The American team continued its medal-winning ways at the Pan American Games in Chile, collecting 25 more on Wednesday, including eight golds. The biggest winner at the Games has been Canadian swim star Maggie MacNeil, with seven total medals and five golds.
● The Paris 2024 plan for the surfing events in Tahiti has run into protests from the community, principally concerning the installation of a 46-foot-high aluminum tower for judges and technical support that will require sinking rods into a coral reef.
● The continuing discussion over where to hold the bobsled, luge and skeleton events at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games went sideways with a meeting in Milan, with the head of the organizing committee saying he still supports a new track in Cortina. It appears to be about Italian politics.
● The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) has taken a remarkably aggressive stance toward its detractors since the ascension of Swedish billionaire Johan Eliasch to its Presidency, with public statements pushing back against environmental activists and news media!
● Panorama: International Olympic Committee (Paris Qualifier TV rights explored for future sales) = Russia (Russian Wushu fed refuses to attend 2023 Worlds in Ft. Worth) = Aquatics (World Aquatics says no pressure to remove 2024 Worlds from Doha) = Athletics (2: AIU Road Running Report says testing program to return to normal in 2023; Massat gives up winner’s purse to runner sent on the wrong route) = Basketball (record number of international players on opening-day NBA rosters) = Boxing (IBA provisionally admits two, World Boxing adds five) = Cycling (2024 Tour de France route revealed, will not finish in Paris) = Rowing (2025 European Champs withdrawn from Serbia due to 2023 elections!) = Ski & Snowboard (FIS says three candidates for 2028 FIS Games) ●
● Errata: Some readers saw a version of Wednesday’s post where the topic summary noted an Uruguayan stamp that honored IOC President “Beach.” Of course, it’s “Bach,” as in Thomas Bach. Sorry about that; now corrected. ●
1.
Uniforming the U.S. track & field team is anything but uniform
A photo of the finish of the men’s 110 m hurdles at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary shows American stars Grant Holloway – the winner in 12.96 – and Freddie Crittenden – fourth in 13.16 – both running in U.S. uniforms.
Except they weren’t the same uniforms at all.
Sure, both had a red-and-blue striped top that said “USA” on the chest and blue bottoms. But look closer.
Holloway has a tank top and traditional athletic shorts. Crittenden has a half-zip top and compression shorts. Aren’t they supposed to be the same?
No, says Brad Birling, the USA Track & Field International Teams Manager:
“For a World Championship, every athlete gets the full training and travel uniform selection and then they get to pick out four different uniforms that they would want to compete in for their rounds, their semifinals and their finals.
“So we basically just have a list-out of ‘these are the pieces that are available,’ and we try to direct them to what pieces are designed for what disciplines, so we have pieces that are more for jumps, more for sprints, more for distance, but we really leave it up to the athletes to select what pieces are going to work for them and what works best: what’s going to give them the best opportunity for success when it comes to at least that uniform piece.
“When they go through team processing, they are able to try on pieces and everything, get the right fit to find whether or not they prefer to have a Boy Short or a Sprint Brief or a Half Tight vs. a Field Short, or whatever the case is. So they have the opportunity to try stuff on – if they want to – and we leave it up to the athletes to select what works out best for them when it comes to uniforms.”
Birling says he goes through more than 20,000 pieces of gear every year to outfit the roughly 20 teams USATF fields on an annual basis. Most of the outfitting takes place at whatever the selection meet is, like the USATF Nationals:
“We will do the best we can to kit them on-site [at the selection meet]. That way they have everything right when they leave, they have the opportunity to try stuff on, so it minimizes the issue of having to send back sizes and switch that out. The major events like where we have a selection event that decides the team, we try to get them kitted on-site and give them their stuff right then and there, so they already have it in hand.
“It all goes into a suitcase; we give them a suitcase, and backpack and whatnot.”
And that suitcase is full. Birling listed the uniform items for selection and the added items distributed to a World Championships team member this year:
Men/Uniform options for selection:
● Singlet
● Short Sleeve Race Top
● Muscle Tank
● Short Sleeve Unitard
● Tank Unitard
● Short Sleeve Throw Top
● Tank Throw Top
● Race Short
● Half Tight
● Field Short
Women/Uniform items for selection:
● Singlet
● Airborne Top
● Sprint Cover
● FK Sprint Cover
● Tank Unitard
● Short Sleeve Throw Top
● Tank Throw Top
● Race Short
● Half Tight
● Distance Brief
● Boy Short
● FK Sprint Boy Short
● Sprint Brief
● Field Short
All athletes (29-32 pieces):
● Warm Up Full Tight
● Warm Up Tee
● Long Sleeve Half Zip Top
● Podium Jacket
● Podium Pant
● Rain Jacket
● Rain Pant
● Woven Jacket
● Woven Pant
● Fleece Hoodie
● Fleece Pant
● T-Shirt (x2)
● Long Sleeve Tee
● Tank Top
● Socks (x4)
● Arm Sleeves
● Leg Sleeves
● Roller Suitcase
● Gymsack
● Backpack
● Beanie
● Rain Hat
● Aeorbill Cap
● Aerobill Visor
● Legacy 91 Cap
● Warm Up Capri Tight (women only)
● Crop Tee (women only)
● Fierce Bra (women only)
USATF is outfitted by Nike, so some of the item names reflect Nike’s nomenclature. And Nike had an idea for an additional uniform for the Worlds, just for the relay teams. Birling explained:
“Nike just kind of brought up the idea of having something different to kind of set us apart a little bit, and set the relays apart. They came up with a different design, specifically for the relay teams for the U.S. Essentially, they are the same pieces; for the men’s, for instance, it’s still a Half Tight, it’s still a Muscle Tank. They are the same material, construction, that kind of thing as the regular kit, just a different color way. Same thing with the women, the unitards and whatnot.”
The relay uniforms had a more dramatic red-white-blue motion-line scheme, as shown on the men’s and women’s 4×100 m gold-medal winners (Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images for World Athletics):
Said Birling, “All the relay uniforms are issued on-site, so I bring those. Once the rosters are named, I have the list of the relay pools, obviously the men’s and women’s 100 and 400 and then I always add a little extra in there. But I bring all the relay uniforms with me and issue those to athletes on-site, because at the end of the day, our relay coaches can still make changes up to the last minute, and that might mean a different athlete needs a different uniform and they might be a slightly different size, so I try to be prepared for that athlete to have what they need right then and there for any possible changes that happen.”
Birling, a five-year USATF veteran, also noted the uniform design cycle:
“Every four years, Nike will design a new uniform kit for us that essentially starts with each Olympic team. So, for instance, next year we have a brand new kit for the Paris team and that kit will be available only to the Olympic team during the 2024 year, and then we will transition that to all of our international teams through 2028 and the same thing will repeat again. In 2028, the Olympic team will have the new quad uniform, and so on.
“For this one, out of this assortment, I think it’s fair to say that Nike is very much a company that like to kind of push innovation and whatnot, so a lot of times, when it comes to track & field, USA tends to be kind of the testing ground for some new, innovative uniform pieces and that kind of thing.”
And there is a special moment in the uniforming program he always enjoys:
“One of the best parts of this job is when you’re at processing, and an athlete comes up for the first time to make a USA Track & Field team, and you can just see the excitement in their face and everything when you open up that suitcase and their uniform is pressed and ready to go for them to take away. Definitely a rewarding part of the job for sure.
“That’s when it hits them.”
2.
U.S. wins 25 medals, MacNeil has seven at Pan Am Games
Through five days at the XIX Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, the United States has won 134 medals, including 25 on Wednesday, of which eight were golds:
● Badminton: Beiwen Zhang, women’s Singles
● Gymnastics: Curran Phillips, men’s Parallel Bars
● Gymnastics: Kaliya Lincoln, women’s Floor Exercise
● Rowing: Madeleine Focht and Veronica Nicacio, women’s Double Sculls
● Rowing: Mixed Eights
● Shooting: Mary Tucker, women’s 20 m Rifle/3 Positions
● Swimming: Men’s 4×100 m Medley
● Swimming: Rachel Stege, women’s 1,500 m Free
The pool swimming events concluded with the U.S. squad winning a staggering 46 medals in 36 events, including 19 golds, 17 silvers and 10 bronzes. The final-day swims included the men’s 4×100 m relay, with emerging sprint star Jonny Kulow anchoring in a speedy 47.32, his best of the meet and winning his sixth medal overall (2-4-0).
Not to be overlooked, however, was 20-year-old Brazilian star Gui Caribe, a sophomore at Tennessee, who split 46.94 to bring his team the silver medal over Canada.
Canada’s Maggie MacNeil, the Tokyo Olympic 100 m Butterfly champ was the biggest winner, with seven total medals (5-1-1), three individual wins in the women’s 50-100 m Frees and 100 m Fly and four more medals on relays. She helped Canada with the Fly leg in their 0.63-second win over the U.S. in the women’s 4×100 m Medley on Wednesday, 3:58.76 to 3:59.39.
Diving concluded with Mexico taking eight golds in 10 events and winning 11 medals overall. Canada’s Pamela Ware won the women’s 1 m and 3 m Springboard events, while Osmar Olvera won three golds for Mexico in the 1 m-3 m and 3, Synchro events.
In gymnastics, Brazil topped the medal count with 14 (3-9-2), although the U.S. won seven out of the 14 events. Canada’s Felix Dolci won five medals, with wins in the men’s All-Around and Floor, the Team silver and bronzes on Rings and Vault. The U.S.’s Donnell Whittenburg won three medals, with the Team gold, Rings gold and All-Around bronze; he now has seven career Pan American Games medals.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, the 2023 Worlds All-Around silver winner, was everywhere in the women’s competition, winning a Team silver, golds on Vault and Beam and a silver on the Uneven Bars. The U.S. women won the Team title for the sixth straight time and All-Around winner Kayla DiCello also won a Floor silver for three medals in all; Jordan Chiles also won three, with a Vault silver and All-Around bronze.
The U.S. and Chile both won 10 medals in rowing, with the Americans taking five golds and Hannah Paynter winning four medals herself, in Pairs (gold, with Isabela Darvin), Mixed Eights (gold), women’s Fours (silver) and women’s Eights (silver). Veronica Nicacio and Madeleine Focht won golds in the women’s Double Sculls, women’s Quadruple Sculls and the women’s Eights.
Overall, the U.S. has 134 total medals (59-38-37), ahead of Canada (76: 28-23-25), Mexico (64: 26-15-23) and Brazil (61: 14-24-23). The competitions continue through 5 November; the event is being shown on the Panam Sports Channel (sign-in required).
3.
Paris 2024 tower plan for Tahiti being protested
Nothing is easy, especially when it comes to the Olympic Games. For the Paris 2024 organizers, the staging of the surfing competition in far-away Tahiti now includes friction with the local community of Teahupo’o, where the event will be staged.
The plans call for the installation of a 14 m aluminum tower (about 46 feet) for the judges and technical team, built 800 m from shore, which has drawn protests from a local heritage group. Atihau association vice president Milton Parker told Agence France Presse:
“As soon as they start breaking the coral, we’re going to have to step in. It’s going to be a disaster.”
The installation is projected to cost €4.4 million (about $4.65 million U.S.), far more than what is used for other surfing events at the site, where a temporary, covered wooden platform is used and then removed. The 2024 tower plan includes an air-conditioned room for computer servers supported by a 20 cm-wide (7.9 inch) undersea cable and a restroom with a drainage system.
The French Polynesian government is in favor of the project, but an online petition against the project has received 70,000 supporters. The aluminum tower was designed over concerns that a wooden platform would not meet safety standards.
Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet told reporters at a Paris event, that “The objective is to continue to move forward, to listen. This project can still be changed to make sure it responds even better to the concerns of the local population. We want to preserve this site absolutely.”
4.
Bob-luge-skeleton site for 2026 now more confused
A meeting on Tuesday of the major players in the ongoing saga of the Milan Cortina 2026 sliding track produced no results other than confusion.
According to a report in the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidario, organizing committee Chair Giovanni Milago himself said that he still supports a track in Cortina, despite not a single company bidding on the project specified by the government’s Olympic construction arm, Simico.
Now the governor of the Veneto region, which includes Cortina d’Ampezzo, Luca Zaia, is angry because his region will now only host curling and women’s alpine skiing, and is asking for some of the men’s alpine races to be moved from Bormio, in Lombardy.
The discussion about the Cesana Pariol site, built for the Turin 2006 Winter Games, but which has not been in use for years and would require extension renovations, continued, apparently in part due to political considerations.
In the meantime, whichever track is to be used is expected to be available for testing during the winter of 2024-25, just about a year away. The existing World Cup tracks in Innsbruck (AUT), St. Moritz (SUI) and elsewhere are standing by.
5.
Feisty FIS slaps back at “Protect Our Winters” petition
The International Ski & Snowboard Federation, better known as FIS, has taken a decidedly more aggressive turn since Swedish billionaire Johan Eliasch was elected as President in 2021.
The federation is collecting all of its broadcasting rights with the belief that it can make a much better deal for all of its events than for only some. It is creating a giant, essentially all-discipline “FIS Games” in 2028 to showcase its sports between Olympic Winter Games and its single-sport championships held in odd years.
And it is taking no abuse from critics it believes are grandstanding at its expense. The latest slap came on Monday, in a direct reply to an Instagram post by Protect Our Winters Switzerland on 19 October that included: “When we saw photos of excavators digging into the Theodul glacier in Zermatt and bulldozers destroying glacier ice in Solden, it became crystal clear. This cannot continue.”
The FIS reply ripped into the Protect Our Winters Switzerland post:
● “Instead of shallow and attention-grabbing campaigns, we support long-term, practical projects that will make a meaningful difference both to the future of our planet and to our athletes.”
● “For your petition you used a picture that was not taken in recent times but in the year 2019 from WWF Austria. This picture doesn’t even show the Rettenbach Glacier/Sölden or the Theodul Glacier/Zermatt but the Pitztal Glacier and therefore has absolutely no connection to the FIS Alpine World Cup. In this case there is no doubt that you are trying to incite hostility towards FIS by deliberately misleading the public using false information. We must inform you that such conduct is unethical and we ask you to correct that with immediate effect.”
● “Your campaign is highly unattractive. Your actions do not only harm the reputation of FIS but the future of skiing and snowboarding and the credibility of everyone who is genuinely trying to fight for climate action.”
This is hardly the first such post from FIS. On 28 April of this year, Eliasch responded to a letter from Greenpeace – which accused FIS of “greenwashing” – noting:
“Climate protection is a cause I have been personally passionate about for thirty years. Progress will be made through practical actions that are rooted in climate justice and research on what works. Let me repeat: I share your anxieties about the effect that climate change is having – and will have – on us all. I am determined that we at FIS will do our part to help avert climate disaster.
“Equally, Greenpeace should do its part in engaging constructively in an educated and fact-based manner with those seeking to affect genuine change and respecting the rights of indigenous people.”
An athlete petition in February asked FIS to do more on climate change and FIS replied two days later on its Web site, stating:
“There is also a call for FIS to be carbon neutral; in fact, we are going further. In 2022, FIS became the first Climate Positive international sports federation. This began with a detailed carbon footprint estimate of all competitions staged during a full season, carried out by industry leader Planet Mark. Then FIS established a mechanism through which we can invest to offset those annual emissions many times over: the FIS Rainforest Initiative.”
And FIS has pushed back – hard – against news media it believes are grandstanding. Consider this notice from 7 February of this year:
“In recent days, FIS received requests for information from journalists writing for Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Kleine Zeitung and Salzburger Nachrichten. These journalists were particularly keen to ask questions about the fact that Head provided the FIS official outfits for the 22-23 season; FIS President Johan Eliasch is the Chairman of Head.
“Keen to assist the journalists with their enquiries, FIS promptly provided the timeline of events set out in a statement, showing that (a) there was no conflict of interests (b) Head did the job as a favour to FIS, at a financial loss, (c) Head did not brand the products and therefore (d) neither President Eliasch nor Head made any gain from this move, directly or indirectly.
“It seems the straightforwardness of the FIS response has prompted a change of heart from these journalists, who have now requested that their original questions – and the FIS answers – be removed from the website.
“Considering that journalists’ prime motive should be to expose the truth and shine a light on the facts, the eagerness to have their own questions – and the factual answers provided – taken off the website and out of the public domain is interesting. It may even lead objective observers to conclude that the facts did not suit the journalists’ agenda.”
On 28 February, the FIS site featured this:
“FIS refers to various articles in Finnish media concerning the future participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions. In these articles, the statements of FIS President Johan Eliasch are used in a misleading way to draw fabricated and unfounded conclusions.
“The FIS position on this topic has not changed: FIS, together with other International Federations, has been following the IOC recommendations and is fully supportive of the IOC’s initiative to seek the adoption of the UN Resolution ‘Sport as an enabler of sustainable development’ by the United Nations General Assembly on 1 December 2022.
“Any further decisions with regards to the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes at FIS competitions will be taken by the FIS Council taking into account all points of view and implications.”
On Wednesday (25th), the FIS Council continued its ban on Russian and Belarusian participation in its events.
Observed: This is a fascinating study in aggressive public relations from FIS, and from Eliasch, one whose impact will not be known for some time. But it showcases an often-unseen willingness to demand as much rectitude from its critics as the critics demand from FIS. Very few other federations have been as bold.
≡ PANORAMA ≡
● International Olympic Committee ● Sport Business reported that the IOC is exploring the packaging of Olympic qualifying events for sale to broadcasters in an attempt to expand interest outside of the Games period.
A first Olympic Qualifier Series will take place for BMX Freestyle, breaking, skateboarding, and sport climbing in two stages in 20204, in Shanghai (CHN) on May 16-19 and in Budapest (CHN) on June 20-23. If interest is shown, the concept could be significantly expanded for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
● Russia ● The Russian Wushu Federation has refused to compete at the World Wushu Championship, to be held in Ft. Worth, Texas, from 16-20 November because of sanctions.
RWF Executive Secretary Mikhail Kozhemyakin told the Russian news agency TASS:
“Representatives of the Russian Wushu team will not take part in the World Championship due to discriminatory restrictions.
“It is unacceptable for us to compete at international competitions without the flag and anthem of our country. This is a decision of both the presidium of our federation and the athletes themselves.
“We learned in advance that the federations of the European Union countries agreed to boycott the World Championship if Russian athletes come to these competitions even without a flag and anthem. Everything is similar to the [2022] Paralympic Games in China. Therefore, we intend to wait until the international federation begins to act in strict accordance with its charter and the Olympic Charter, renouncing discrimination on political grounds.
“The International Wushu Federation is now led by people who are, let’s say, under American influence. An elective congress will be held as part of the World Championship, and one of the candidates for the post of leader is the Minister of Sports of China. We hope that if the government changes, the situation will improve.
“Our federation is working on new alternative formats for competitions with those countries that do not support the discriminatory policies of international sports organizations, primarily the BRICS and SCO countries. The Russian Wushu team participates in international competitions only under the flag and anthem of their country.”
● Aquatics ● World Aquatics said that it has not received requests from national federations to remove the 2024 World Aquatics Championships from Doha (QAT).
World Aquatics chief executive Brent Nowicki (USA) said in an e-mail message to SwimSwam.com: “World Aquatics is not facing any pressure to move the event in Doha and not a single country has contacted us in this respect.”
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported last week that multiple national federations had asked about moving the 2024 Worlds in view of Qatar’s support of Hamas in Gaza.
● Athletics ● The Athletics Integrity Unit released its 2022 Road Running Report, showing that testing was returning to normal after the pandemic.
The most encouraging part of the report was in the introduction from Chair David Howman (NZL):
“In 2022, the programme operated within a budget of $1.43 million – less than half of the normal projected budget of $3 million annually – and with actual expenditure of $1.35 million. The number of athletes in the road runners’ Registered Testing Pool (RTP) rose to 91 athletes (from 40) with another 116 athletes in the Monitoring Pool. Meanwhile, the World Athletics Label Road Race calendar jumped to nearly 200 races in more than 40 countries, from 88 races in 2021.
“However, in 2023, the RTP is at full capacity, with an estimated 150 elite men and women athletes each – totalling at least 300 road runners in a well-controlled testing environment – from which race organisers can choose athletes to compete in their events.”
The testing volume is expected to reach 1,450 in-competition and 2,000 out-of-competition tests in 2023, vs. 1,878 total tests in 2022 from 903 athletes from 68 countries.
The Registered Testing Pool athletes underwent an average of six tests each during 2022, up from four in 2021. The total testing pool in 2022 was 206 athletes with 90 from Kenya and 91 from Ethiopia – that’s 87.4% – with Bahrain and Uganda next with four each (the U.S. had two).
The report showed 19 cases of sanctions, with penalties from three months to six years; of these, 14 were Kenyan and one each from Argentina, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Lebanon and Turkey.
¶
Morocco’s Mohamed Massat won the 2023 Quijote Half Marathon in Ciudad Real, Spain in 67:08 last Sunday, but refused to accept the winner’s prize of €500.
Instead, he insisted it go to second-place finisher Peter Kariuki (KEN: 67:56), who was leading, but was sent by a race official on a detour that ended up with Kariuki running an extra 1,000 m before rejoining the leaders. Said Massat:
“I finished first, but for me the winner is Peter Kariuki. He was well ahead of me and because of a mistake at the end of the circuit he went the other way. The winner is him, he was going to arrive before me.”
Massat took the second-place prize of €300 instead. Wow.
● Basketball ● The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) noted that a record number of international players – 125 – were on the opening-night rosters of NBA teams as the season opens. That’s about 28% of the total of approximately 450 opening-night players on the 30 NBA teams.
The 125 total is slightly higher than the previous record of 121 from 2017-18 and 2021-22. Every NBA team has at least one international, with Canada – as usual, for the 10th season in a row – having the most, with 26. France has 14 and Australia has nine.
● Boxing ● The International Boxing Association provisionally re-admitted Switzerland, subject to the vote at a Congress later this year, and added the Norfolk Island Boxing Association for the first time. The Swiss federation leadership voted to move to World Boxing, but the membership reversed the decision and a new board was elected.
Meanwhile, World Boxing announced five new members – Philippines, Scotland, Wales, Suriname and the U.S. Virgin Islands – to bring its total to 27. This is in advance of its founding Congress on 25 November in Frankfurt (GER).
● Cycling ● The route for the 111th Tour de France in 2024 was announced Wednesday, with the race to finish in Nice on 21 July, due to the preparations for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
It will be the first time that the famous race will not be finishing in Paris. Moreover, the usual non-competitive, final-day ride for the Tour leaders will be replaced with a 34 km Individual Time Trial from Monaco to Nice, in which anything could happen. It’s the first Tour to finish with a Time Trial since 1989.
The 2023 route promises to be punishing, with two different stage groups in the Alps, plus two stages in the Pyrenees:
● 8 Flat stages: 3-5-6-8-10-12-13-16
● 2 Time Trials: 7-21
● 4 Hilly stages: 1-2-9-18
● 7 Mountain stages: 4-11-14-15-17-19-20
The race will start in Italy – for the first time ever – on 29 June in Florence, with the fourth stage being the first in France. There will be four uphill finishes, with 52,230 m of climbing (about 32.5 miles) in all.
● Rowing ● A further, sad commentary on the state of sport vis-a-vis governments came from World Rowing’s announcement on Monday:
“Due to parliamentary and local elections planned in Serbia towards the end of 2023 – encompassing the Serbian parliament, the Mayor of Belgrade and the Belgrade Assembly – and considering the risk of a delay in the funding and establishment of a Local Organizing Committee for the 2025 European Rowing Championships, World Rowing, European Rowing and the Serbian Rowing Federation have jointly agreed on a postponement of the Event to a later year.
“The decision regarding the year when the European Rowing Championships will be held in Belgrade will be communicated by the parties in due time.”
The award of the event to Belgrade was made in February of this year.
● Ski and Snowboard ● The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) Council met on Wednesday and reported that three countries have expressed interest in the new, all-discipline FIS Games planned for 2028. The deadline for filing expressions of interest is 1 November. Also:
“The current FIS policy, which does not allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials at FIS events, will remain in effect until further notice.”
¶
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