FIS hopes to resume parallel competitions – already taking place in Saalbach

After the 2023 World Cup, the World Ski Federation deleted the parallel competition from the calendar. Despite this, one of them appeared on the show again at the Saalbach World Cup. This is the reason behind it.

For fans, one of the biggest annoyances in modern snowboarding is parallel racing. At the world championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, parallel races became a farce due to different track speeds and opaque rules. In the World Cup's few parallel events, stars such as Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, Luik Mellard and Lara Gut-Behrami often chose not to start.

The final winners of the 2021/22 World Cup parallel individual competition were Christian Hirschbühl and Andrea Sloka; Gino Caviezel, Cedric Nog and Daniel Sette were the Swiss men team scores. All of which is to say that these races were not well received by the riders.

Courchevel 2021: Christian Hirschbühl (right) wins the last parallel individual race to date ahead of Dominik Raschner.Image: trapezoid

However, the FIS, the world ski association, seems to want to revive those parallel events that have effectively been buried. At the 2023 World Championships in Courchevel and Meribel, FIS Secretary General Michel Vion confirmed that there should no longer be men versus men at future major events, whether individual or team events. Or female versus female. Instead, the association hopes to create a team portfolio.

Another similar event is planned for this winter's World Ski Championships in Saalbach: the first medals will be awarded in the team parallel competition on February 4, 2025, when the championship battle begins. When asked by “Blick”, the FIS explained: “The team competition of the 2023 World Cup was a success. It was well organized and the ratings were high. That is why we decided to keep him in Saalbach.” FIS There are even plans to include parallel competitions in the Olympic program again from 2030.

“Blick” also pointed out that the association has committed to marketer Infront to host 11 competitions. You can only participate in these eleven games if you maintain parallel team competition. In addition to the eight classic competitions such as downhill, super-G, giant slalom, and men's and women's slalom, the two teams will also compete on the big stage in Saalbach for the first time.

There are premieres and comebacks in Saalbach.Image: trapezoid

It looks like this: Speed ​​riders and slalom riders from the same country each do one run in their respective events, and the times are added together. The format has been tested at the past two World Youth Championships but was briefly removed from the World Cup schedule last season.

World Cup athletes are also protesting here. The reason: Petra Vlhova of Slovakia or AJ Ginnis of Greece cannot compete because there are no “available” partners. This will now also affect new Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro and Dutch returnee Marcel Herschel. Therefore, further instability is inevitable. (Abu)

November 11, 2011: Conor Cunningham was not the contest winner. However, it became a big topic after Ireland's 4-0 victory over Estonia at Euro 2012. Because this fan managed to watch the game as an Estonian substitute.

Irish football fans are known for two things: they drink a lot and they love to travel. They prefer to combine the two activities. PE student Conor Cunningham flew to Estonia with ten friends to attend Ireland's European Championship qualifiers but had no plane tickets. Since the stadium is small but the crowds are huge, the “black market” options can quickly disappear.