The FIS Council extended the suspension of the Russians: Europe admitted that this is a disaster

On Saturday, October 22, the FIS Council extended the suspension of Russian skiers (as well as snowboarders, freestylers and others) indefinitely. Until further notice. The decision was not unexpected, as Martti Uusitalo, a member of the Council of the International Ski Racing Federation, spoke about it as inevitable a few days ago. At the same time, even the Norwegians understand that the ski season without the Russians is a disaster, and they prove it with concrete numbers.

The words of the Secretary General of the International Ski Federation Michel Vion that the return of Russian athletes will someday have to be thought about were taken by many as a good sign. That the ice has broken, that Europe is beginning to see clearly, and so on. But hopes turned out to be empty, and even if there is someone who really wants to return our athletes to the international arena, he will never talk about it.

The publication of the Norwegian NRK is direct proof of this. The study of the publication shows that without Russian skiers in the new season there will be absolutely no struggle, intrigue and, as a result, spectator interest, which has been steadily declining in recent years. And the rating was saved only by the growing interest in cross-country skiing just in Russia.

“Unfortunately, the numbers don’t lie,” says Torgeir Bjorn, a former Norwegian skier and now NRK expert. – In the last few seasons, ski competitions have been exclusively a confrontation between Russia and Norway. The generation in a number of countries has become much weaker than a few years ago. Recently, only the lone swallow from Finland, Iivo Niskanen, has intervened in the fight, in the sprint Italian Federico Pellegrino and a couple of Frenchmen Luca Shanava and Richard Jouve. Therefore, without the Russians, the season for Norway will be a cakewalk.”

The results of the last 64 individual races for men at the World Cup and World Championships show that:

– over the past three seasons, Norwegian and Russian men have taken 80 percent of the top five positions;

– in the top ten in several races there were almost only Russians and Norwegians;

– eight of the top ten runners at the World Championships were from Norway and Russia;

– 13 of the top 15 runners were from these two countries in the Long Distance World Cup standings.

In other words, changes in skiing without the Russians will be colossal. If there were no Russians since November 2019, then:

– Norway would win almost 80 percent of all races;

– Norway would have won all the medals at the 2021 World Cup;

– on average, Norway would have had more than three of the top five in every race over the past three seasons, in long distance running this proportion is approximately 70 percent;

– last season, Norway would have had seven of the top eight in the World Cup standings.

Moreover, we had the opportunity to see how it happens when only one team dominates. Last season, when the Norwegians withdrew from the races due to the coronavirus, including not coming to the Tour de Ski. Then six of the seven best skiers wore Russian uniforms. This, of course, pleases ordinary fans, but only in one country. For the popularity of the sport and its development, intrigue and struggle are needed. At least between two ski powers.

Therefore, the decision to remove the Russian team from the competition will have commercial consequences for the FIS, and this is recognized even by the Norwegians. Last winter, according to a media analysis prepared exclusively for the FIS by Nielsen, the ratings for cross-country skiing in the world were the lowest in five years. But if it weren’t for the Russian viewers, they were even lower, as 29 percent of all international viewers were in Russia. And just before the ban, the indicators of interest reached their peak in our country. Firstly, ours totally won the Tour de Ski in the absence of Norway. Second, Nielsen cites the Bolshunov effect as one of the reasons.

That is why our viewership has grown by 143 percent, while the total number of views in the world has fallen by 20 percent since the 2017/18 season. We will not have to watch ski races to see how the Norwegians win.

In response to the NRK publication, Russian Olympic champion Veronika Stepanova replied that “in 2020, cross-country skiing was the 2nd most popular sponsor in Norway, and in September 2022 it was already 12th.”

Problems see not only the Norwegians. British skier Andrew Musgrave said that he would like to see all the strongest athletes on the planet, including Russians, among the participants in the World Cup. “The situation in cross-country skiing is funny. I looked at the overall World Cup standings to see what it would be like without the Russians. Obviously last season would have been shitty. We have to do something so that the results don’t look so ridiculous. This is a very difficult situation, I personally want to see all the strongest in the ranks. I don’t want to win and think that I won only because there was no Bolshunov,” Musgrave said on the Faster Skier podcast.

But, even acknowledging possible problems, Europe does not want to see Russian skiers at the World Cup and World Championships. When Michel Wion only hinted at the urgency of considering the return of Russia, Norway and Sweden immediately announced that they would boycott the competition in this case. No matter how you get out of the situation, there will be no competition. So the FIS Council made a quite expected decision.

However, not only Norway decides, although it has its own weighty word. And according to Saltvedt, although the consequences for cross-country skiing are potentially catastrophic in the event of the removal of the Russians, but “this sport is not considered as the most important for the FIS leadership.”

Yes, the federation also has ski jumping, alpine skiing, snowboarding and freestyle, but the last two also have problems: several stages of the World Cup in selective disciplines have been canceled or postponed due to lack of money from local organizers and the energy crisis.