Tuesday, 8 June 2010
News from Slopestyle Federation

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Slopestyle is in the World Champs program!

Jun. 8, 2010

SLOPESTYLE RECEIVES APPROVAL FOR INCLUSION INTO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS PROGRAMMING
Canadian officials confirm leadership role within snowboarding at FIS meetings in Turkey

The events of “Slopestyle” and “Team Snowboardcross” received blessings from the International Ski Federation (FIS) to be included in future programming of FIS World Snowboard Championships as the week-long FIS Congress wrapped up in Turkey on Friday.

The approval vote, which took place on Friday, was in response to a motion put forward by Canadian officials in Turkey. Canadian Snowsports Association president Dave Pym presented the motion to the FIS Snowboard Committee on behalf of Canada~Snowboard.

This vote has significant importance for the industry. In order to include a new sport in the Olympic programme, it is mandatory to have staged at least one prior World Championships. This Canadian-led motion will significantly improve chances of having Slopestyle and Team Snowboardcross introduced into the Olympic Program. This will allow FIS officials to put forward the motion for consideration in front of International Olympic Committee (IOC) members for their final votes.

Inclusion of Slopestyle and Team Snowboardcross is optional for the Organizing Committees of the 2011, 2013 and 2015 World Championships, as their competition programs had already been set. Gestev, the Organizing Committee of the 2013 World Snowboard Championships event to be held in Stoneham, Québec, supported the motion and is interested to consider adding Slopestyle in its programme.

Canada is taking a strong leadership role with the new event. The first ever Slopestyle event at the FIS World Cup Tour level was held last January in Calgary, Alberta at WinSport Canada’s Canada Olympic Park.

Canada was also first to host a FIS Nor-Am event for Slopestyle, prior to the World Cup event, in Calgary. Canada~Snowboard also moved to full integration of Slopestyle in its development programs such as Canada~Snowboard Tour, the Canada~Snowboard Nationals and the RBC Riders initiation to snowboarding program.

A number of Canadian delegates were in Turkey to discuss various aspects of snowboarding, shaping the future of competitive snowboarding. The Canadian snowboard delegation was led by Canada~Snowboard Chief Executive Officer Tom McIllfaterick, Remi Laliberté who sits on the FIS Snowboard committee and Tim O’Brien, who sits on the Technical Delegates committee. Also in attendance were Patrice Drouin and Martial Derome of the 2013 World Championship Organizing Committee.

2015 WORLD SNOWBOARD CHAMPIONSHIPS
International officials also voted on awarding the 2015 FIS World Championships to Kreischberg, Austria. The 2015 World Championships will have significant important in the history of sport as it will become the first ever World Championships for both Snowboarding and Freestyle Skiing. The FIS World Snowboard Championships were previously held in Kreischberg in 2003.