The FIS World Ski Championships

Further expanding its role in international skiing, Infront Sports & Media will – for the first time during the 2008/2009 winter season – be handling broadcast rights to all FIS World Ski Championships in all disciplines.


Four exciting events in a row

The FIS World Ski Championships are held every two years and are the highlights of the FIS calendar of international competitions. They take place in all FIS disciplines — Alpine Skiing, Nordic Skiing, Snowboarding and Freestyle — and represent the only occasion — other than the Winter Olympic Games — when the world’s best competitors meet together in the same venue to establish world leading status.

 

In 2009, from January to March, there will be a continuous and exciting series of four FIS World Ski Championships in a row. The competition will have an added edge, because this will be the last opportunity to assess the stars before the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Worldwide attraction
The events are widely spread and will attract audiences throughout the world. The 2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships will take place in the popular resort of Val d’Isere and will be the 40th in the long history of this event, inaugurated in Mürren in 1931.

The 2009 FIS Snowboard World Championships will take place in the Republic of Korea. The Nordic event will take place in the Czech Republic and the exciting Freestyle event in Japan.

While Alpine Skiing is the longest-established and best known of this family of World Championships, all of them have a major impact.

The 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, for example, involved an impressive 485 athletes from 49 countries. In the 2007 FIS Snowboard World Championships, there were more than 325 hours of coverage (225 hours live), with an audience of 86 million (triple the previous event).

2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
2 — 15 Feb in Val d’Isère (FRA)

  • 11 Men’s and Women’s races
  • Extra-European broadcast rights


2009 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
18 Feb — 1 Mar in Liberec (CZE)

  • 10 Men’s and Women’s Cross Country races
  • Five Men’s Ski Jumping races (including two qualification
    rounds) and one official Women’s Test event, for the 1st time at
    World Championships level
  • Four Men’s Nordic Combined races
  • Extra-European broadcast rights


2009 FIS Snowboard World Championships
17 — 24 Jan in Gangwon (KOR)

  • Five Men’s and Women’s races
  • Worldwide broadcast rights (except Korea)


2009 FIS Freestyle World Championships
2 — 8 Mar in Inawashiro (JPN)

  • Five Men’s and Women’s races
  • Worldwide broadcast rights (except Japan)

 

All the World Championships are available both on satellite and/or tape, at broadcasters’ request. Tailored programmes can be edited in addition.

For more information on Infront’s skiing portfolio see International Skiing  under Media Rights and also Biathlon under Marketing Rights.