Today at the 52nd International Ski Congress the delegates elected Johan Eliasch (GBR) as the new FIS President to take over for outgoing President Gian Franco Kasper.

Eliasch was elected as the new FIS President after just one round of voting. He earned 54.82 percent of the vote with 65 votes. Behind him was Urs Lehmann (SUI) with 26 votes (21.85%) followed by Sarah Lewis (BEL) with 15 votes (12.61%) and Mats Arjes (SWE) 13 votes (10.92%)

“I’m incredibly humbled to be chosen as your president.” Eliasch said to the Congress after his election. “I want to thank FIS for organizing such a professional virtual congress. I would especially like to express my gratitude to Gian Franco Kasper, whom I have known for many years. We would not all be sitting here today if it wasn’t for him.

He continued, “I will be engaged, open-minded and transparent and a president that represents all nations and all disciplines and now let us go to work.”

In addition to the Presidential election, the Congress also elected the 16-member Council. The elected Candidates are:

ARJES, Mats, SWE          
GOSPER Dean, AUS          
KUMPOST Roman, CZE         
LEHMANN, Urs, SUI          
MINEV Tzeko, BUL        
MURASATO Aki, JPN         
PAINE Dexter, USA          
RODA Flavio, ITA              
ROESTE Erik, NOR          
SCHROECKSNADEL Peter, AUT  
SMREKAR Enzo, SLO         
STEINLE Franz, GER         
UUSITALO Martti, FIN         
VION Michel, FRA       
VYALBE Elena, RUS          
ZHEN Liangcheng, CHN          

In addition to the above elected Council members, Hannah Kearney (USA – Freestyle Skiing) and Martti Jyhla (FIN – Cross Country Skiing) were appointed as the Athletes’ Commission Representatives in the Council for the upcoming term.

Both the President and Council will serve a term through the next International Ski Congress, which will take place in late Spring 2022.

The election was the primary business at today’s Congress as all National Ski Associations agreed to table all proposals for the FIS Statutes until the next Congress when it can be staged in person.

Outside of the housekeeping business, a major decision of note was the adoption of the Mainau Manifesto, which will serve as the guiding sustainability document for FIS in the upcoming years.

Additionally, give new nations were approved as Associate Members, they are: Cape Verde, Panama, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates and Vanuatu.