International Ski and Snowboard Federation facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
International Ski and Snowboard Federation

Sport	Skiing and Snowboarding
Jurisdiction	International
Membership	132 members
Abbreviation	FIS
Founded	2 February 1924 (1924-02-02) in Chamonix, France
Affiliation	IOC
Headquarters	Marc Hodler House Blochstrasse 2 Oberhofen am Thunersee, Switzerland
President	Johan Eliasch
Vice president(s)	Roman Kumpost (2021) Dexter Paine (2021) Aki Murasato (2016) Peter Schroecksnadel (2021)
Secretary	Michel Vion
Operating income	CHF 14.6 million (2018)
Official website
Official languages: English, French, German and Russian

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, also known as FIS (French: Fédération Internationale de Ski et de Snowboard), is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. It was previously known as the International Ski Federation (Fédération Internationale de Ski) until 26 May 2022 when the name was changed to include snowboard.

Founded on 2 February 1924 in Chamonix, France during the inaugural Winter Olympic Games, FIS is responsible for the Olympic skiing disciplines, namely Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined, freestyle skiing, and snowboarding. The FIS is also responsible for setting the international competition rules. The organization has a membership of 132 national ski associations, and is based in Oberhofen am Thunersee, Switzerland.

Most World Cup wins

At least 50 World Cup wins in all disciplines run by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation for men and women:

Rank		Wins	Discipline	Code
1	Amélie Wenger-Reymond	164	Telemark skiing	TM
2	Marit Bjørgen	114	Cross-country skiing	CC
3	Conny Kissling	106	Freestyle skiing	FS
4	Mikaela Shiffrin	95	Alpine skiing	AL
5	Mikaël Kingsbury	87	Freestyle skiing	FS
6	Ingemar Stenmark	86	Alpine skiing	AL
7	Lindsey Vonn	82	Alpine skiing	AL
	Therese Johaug	82	Cross-country skiing	CC
9	Johannes Høsflot Klæbo	74	Cross-country skiing	CC
10	Karine Ruby	67	Snowboarding	SB
	Marcel Hirscher	67	Alpine skiing	AL
	Jarl Magnus Riiber	67	Nordic combined	NK
13	Sara Takanashi	63	Ski jumping	JP
14	Annemarie Moser-Pröll	62	Alpine skiing	AL
15	Phillipe Lau	58	Telemark skiing	TM
	Simone Origone	58	Speed skiing	SS
17	Jan Bucher	57	Freestyle skiing	FS
	Jan Němec	57	Grass skiing	GS
19	Vreni Schneider	55	Alpine skiing	AL
20	Hermann Maier	54	Alpine skiing	AL
21	Gregor Schlierenzauer	53	Ski jumping	JP
	Edoardo Frau	53	Grass skiing	GS
23	Alberto Tomba	50	Alpine skiing	AL
	Justyna Kowalczyk	50	Cross-country skiing	CC

Updated as of 3 February 2024

Ski disciplines

The federation organises the following ski sport disciplines, for which it oversees the FIS Games as well as World Cup competitions and World Championships:

FIS Congress history

Founding and the first years

After ski club federations and national associations were created in Norway (1883 and 1908), Russia (1896), Bohemia and Great Britain (1903), Switzerland (1904), United States, Austria and Germany (all in 1905) and Sweden, Finland and Italy (all in 1908), and competitions had begun such as the Nordic Games, early international cross-country races (Adelboden, 1903), international participation at Holmenkollen (1903) and Club Alpin Français (CAF) International Winter Sports Weeks, an international Ski Congress was convened to develop standard rules for international competitive skiing.

The founding of a predecessor association, the International Ski Commission (CIS), was decided on February 18, 1910, in Christiania, Norway by delegates from ten countries to the first International Ski Congress. This Congress then met every year or so to hear from the CIS and refine and adopt rule changes. The commission was to consist of two members - a representative of Scandinavia and Central Europe. Ultimately, two Scandinavians sat on the commission. A year later, in March 1911, the first internationally valid set of rules was approved. At that time, the commission was enlarged to five members, and Oslo was elected as headquarters.

In 1913, the number of members of the commission was increased to seven: two Norwegians, two Swedes, a Swiss, a German and an Austrian.

On February 2, 1924, in Chamonix as part of the "International Winter Sports Week", which was later to be recognized as the first Olympic Winter Games, 36 delegates from 14 countries (Great Britain, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Yugoslavia, Norway, Poland, Romania, US, Switzerland, Sweden, Hungary and Italy) decided to found the FIS, which replaced the CIS.

Initially, the FIS was only responsible for Nordic skiing. FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1925 in Janské Lázně, Czechoslovakia, were given status as the first official World Championships. After the Scandinavian countries had relented, it was decided at the 11th FIS Congress (February 24–26, 1930 in Oslo) to also include alpine skiing (downhill, slalom and alpine combined) in the rules. This was upon a proposal by Great Britain, in which the British ski pioneer Arnold Lunn played a major role as co-founder of the Arlberg-Kandahar races. The simple sentence "Downhill and slalom races may be organized" was written into the rules - a sentence that was to change skiing in the long term. The first FIS Alpine World Ski Championships were held 19–23 February 1931 in Mürren, Switzerland.

Ski flying, a variation of ski jumping, was recognized as a discipline in 1938, but rules were not finalized until after World War II.

List of Ski Congresses

Presidents

The Crystal Globe trophy awarded by the FIS to the winner of the Alpine Ski World Cup. Similar trophies are awarded in all FIS world cups.

#	Name	Nationality	Term
1.	Ivar Holmquist	Sweden	1924–1934
2.	Nicolai Ramm Østgaard	Norway	1934–1951
3.	Marc Hodler	Switzerland	1951–1998
4.	Gian-Franco Kasper	Switzerland	1998–2021
5.	Johan Eliasch	Great Britain  Sweden	2021–present

Members

Official FIS ski museums

Exhibit at the FIS Skimuseum Damüls in Vorarlberg (Austria)

As of 2017, there are 31 official FIS Ski Museums worldwide in 13 countries which are devoted to the history of skiing, taking into account the region's own history of skiing and tourism.

List of FIS ski museums

• FIS Skimuseum Damüls, Vorarlberg (Austria)
• FIS-Winter!Sport!Museum! Mürzzuschlag (Austria)
• FIS-Landes-Skimuseum Werfenweng (Austria)
• FIS-Ski-Museum Vaduz (Liechtenstein)

See also

In Spanish: Federación Internacional de Esquí para niños

• Alpine Skiing Europa Cup
• FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
• FIS Cross-Country World Cup
• FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup
• FIS Nordic Combined World Cup
• FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
• FIS Snowboard World Cup
• International Snowboard Federation