New FIS President Alexander Ospelt Opens with a Misstep

Alexander Ospelt wanted to heal the divisions within the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. His first major initiative as president, however, has opened a new dispute, particularly with the Austrian Ski Federation.

Ospelt won the presidency over Johan Eliasch by just 65 votes to 64, despite support from leading skiing nations including Austria and Switzerland and from stars such as Marco Odermatt and Mikaela Shiffrin. He brought back FIS managers Urs Lehmann and Alexandra Meissnitzer, who had fallen out of favor under Eliasch, and presented himself as a president for all member federations.

His first proposal has created immediate tension. The FIS wants to stage its world championships every winter rather than every two years. The plan places potential additional revenue and media exposure at the center of the debate, even though the skiing world has just rejected that approach, the article argues.

Those who prevailed in the recent election favored quality over quantity. They wanted distinctive events rather than an inflationary stream of medal winners, and they wanted the World Cup to play a stronger role as winter sport’s main competition series.

The Austrian federation rejected the FIS plan. The article notes that hosting a modern major event requires enormous effort, as Saalbach-Hinterglemm demonstrated with the 2025 Alpine World Ski Championships. With the Olympic Games taking place every four years, a two-year world championship cycle already leaves only one winter in four without a major event. The proposal therefore represents a difficult opening for Ospelt and Meissnitzer, especially because it places the FIS directly against the ÖSV position.