Winter sports news blog
Trouble continues: ski stars rail against the head of the association
Updated on December 9, 2024 – 12:41 p.mReading time: 13 minutes
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Trouble continues: ski stars rail against the head of the association
The fight for power in the world winter sports association Fis has reached a new dimension. Alpine superstars such as Mikaela Shiffrin and Marco Odermatt, numerous council members and national associations such as the German Ski Association (DSV) have written an incendiary letter criticizing President Johan Eliasch’s apparently lonely decision to reject an investor’s multi-million dollar offer. This is reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, among others.
The controversial Eliasch, head of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation Fis since 2021, received a tempting offer from CVC, one of the largest private equity companies in the world, on November 30th: 400 million euros for 20 percent of the shares a company in which the winter sports associations jointly held 80 percent. The goal: The joint and central marketing of, among other things, media and sponsorship rights.
CVC suggested paying 375 million euros in advance and then starting its marketing machine as soon as possible. The company, which had to exit as a possible investor in the German Football League (DFL) in February after fan protests, assured the Fis and the national associations full control over “sporting and regulatory decisions”. With a similar strategy, the distributions to the teams in Formula 1 were quadrupled from 2006 to 2017, claimed CVC.
As the SZ reports, Eliasch more or less clearly rejected the offer in an email to CVC on December 2nd. On December 6th, the 62-year-old, whose own controversial concept for central marketing has been sued by the DSV, among others, tried to explain his decision in an email to the members of the Fis Council. The committee immediately protested and Eliasch was asked to negotiate with CVC.
In addition to the signature of the German Council member Franz Steinle, the fire letter also bears the signature of representatives of the powerful associations in Switzerland and Austria. But that’s not all: around three dozen prominent athletes have also signed it, including Shiffrin and Odermatt as well as figureheads such as Lara Gut-Behrami, Federica Brignone, Sofia Goggia, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, and the German slalom rider Linus Straßer.
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Lindsey Vonn has not yet achieved any top placings on her return from skiing retirement, but has shown further solid performances. In the Super-G races in Copper Mountain, the former speed dominator and Olympic champion took places 24 and 19. The 40-year-old was just over two behind the American Lauren Macuga, who was fastest twice on Sunday seconds.
The races in the US state of Colorado were officially called FIS events and therefore below the World Cup level. Nevertheless, numerous top athletes were at the start. In the two downhill runs on Saturday, Vonn finished 24th and 27th. They were their first races in 2,127 days.
“This is just the beginning and the way I ski is currently more important than the times,” Vonn said via the X platform after her comeback on Saturday. “I’m sure people will speculate and say based on the results that I’m not in top shape, but I disagree. This was training for me.”
The Norwegian biathlete Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold has to interrupt her competitions for the time being due to cardiac arrhythmia. As the Norwegian association announced, the four-time world champion will not compete in the mass start in Kontiolahti or the World Cup in Hochfilzen. Instead, the 28-year-old travels to Norway to receive medical care.
Tandrevold explained: “From a purely medical point of view, there would be nothing against me starting today. I have a cardiac arrhythmia, which means that my heart sometimes beats faster than normal.” That only happens occasionally, she said. But she had problems in both the individual race and the sprint and had to stop on the track at times. The team’s doctor said: “Ingrid needs rest and recovery.”