Positive meeting between Ospelt and the Austrian Ski Federation in Innsbruck. And St. Anton cannot be ruled out for the 2028 World Championships

He had announced it in his interview earlier in the day with ORF Sport (HERE is NEVEITALIA's report), in which he spoke for the first time about the “World Championships issue”, and yesterday evening in Innsbruck, Alexander Ospelt met with the heads of the Austrian Ski Federation.

The new FIS president intends to initiate discussions primarily on the reorganisation of the calendar, which is inevitably linked to the possibility of holding an additional World Championships event in each discipline every four years, in the non-Olympic even-numbered year; the OESV welcomed the head of the “government” of world skiing to its Tyrolean headquarters, and the meeting was deemed very positive.

So much so that St. Anton's bid cannot be ruled out for the potential event that the FIS would stage as early as 2028. St. Anton wants to host the Alpine World Ski Championships again after the 2001 edition and is considered the favourite for 2033. However, given the criticism and the extremely tight timetable, the feeling is that the project will begin in 2032. “It was a constructive exchange on various current topics and the simultaneous development of international skiing, including the future direction of the World Championships,” the statement reads. “The OESV presented its views on the possible annual World Championships and confirmed its position (decidedly firm on the issue, describing it as a devalued product, ed.).

At the same time, various issues were discussed openly and valid arguments were exchanged; attention was also devoted to the future development of the World Cup, with our federation presenting concrete suggestions.

The idea is to make the calendar more focused: fewer races in exchange for higher quality in individual events and further strengthening of the World Cup as a fundamental product for sport and the economy.

The OESV and the FIS agreed to continue their constructive dialogue on these and other future topics,” the statement concludes, following a meeting attended specifically, in addition to Ospelt, by Jan Überall, OESV Secretary General; president Roswitha Stadlober; Alexandra Meissnitzer, the national ski federation's Director of Strategy and Public Affairs; and OESV directors Mario Stecher and Christian Scherer.