The protocol of the ski dispute: This is how the dispute between Lehmann and Eliasch escalated

After Eliasch’s election, skiing should get a fresher face. Discussions include new formats or whether the Super-G should be abolished. The parallel event at the start of the Football World Cup of the 2021/22 season should also provide new impetus. This does not go down well with the Swiss team: the stars around Marco Odermatt, Loic Meillard, Michelle Gisin and Co. don’t participate.

A decision that Lehmann welcomes and denounces from the FIS: “That is complete nonsense, nonsense. The fact that the FIS has not amended the regulations in recent months is unacceptable. “The association is losing credibility.”

“This is one of the biggest messes that has ever happened in ski racing,” Urs Lehmann rages. Vincent Kriechmayr has just taken the Lauberhorn victory from Beat Feuz, while he should not have started: the Austrian missed both training sessions due to corona illness, after which the FIS introduced a short-term rule change.

Did Eliasch have a hand in this? Finally, the British-Swedish chief CEO took Kriechmayr under his wing in 2020. “It was not Johan, but the jury who decided in my favor,” says Kriechmayr. “But of course I spoke to Johan after the first descent here in Wengen and he told me he was happy that his people had made that decision.”

The World Cup calendar for the new season drawn up by Eliasch causes collective shaking of heads. For example, the combination must be reinvented, the skiing stars will have to fly overseas twice within a short time or traditional races will disappear.

“Not with us,” thinks Swiss-Ski. The World Cup committee, which includes the Swiss federation and all other major countries, has therefore not approved the 2022/23 World Cup calendar and sent it back to the FIS council. A new calendar is needed.

The election scandal in Milan. The major nations left the room in anger and protest when the FIS president was to be elected. The reason? Eliasch is unopposed, so the ballot could only be cast with his name or blank. “The election process was a joke,” says Diego Zuger, then head of marketing at Swiss-Ski and current co-CEO. “An election where the only valid vote is a yes vote does not match our understanding of the law.” Urs Lehmann described the election as a ‘Muppet Show’.

Eliasch only responds defiantly to the negative reactions: “We can all have our opinions, but we must be strong together to reach the next level.” However, his revised World Cup calendar will now be approved. Without the station wagon revolution.

The presidential elections will now be a matter for the international sports field CAS in Lausanne. In addition to Swiss-Ski, the Croatian, Austrian and German ski associations are also filing a lawsuit.

“We are facing quite a mess,” Urs Lehmann makes clear in the Blick interview. «Eliasch made progress in many areas and offended many people. That’s not how it works. The FIS is currently a large construction site that is divided. A small example: the entire entourage is now flying overseas for the races in Lake Louise and Beaver Creek. And back to Aspen in March. This is unprecedented bad planning and environmental nonsense in this day and age.”

One of the highlights of the Zoff. Eliasch attacks Lehmann in the Blick interview. He speaks, among other things, of sabotage and denies Lehmann’s statements. “He voted for the World Cup entourage to go to the US twice this year and thought it was a great idea – it is even recorded in the minutes of the meeting. A few months later, the same person goes to the media and says that the planning is not good. What is that supposed to mean? You can immediately say that the FIS consists of a bunch of clowns. This is unacceptable behavior, this is sabotage. We have given this councilor a sharp, very sharp warning. You don’t behave like that.”

Lehmann won’t let that go. “Sabotage? This word is completely out of place. This is war vocabulary. There is nothing more to say at this point.” The problems seem to be escalating.

By the way, just a few days after the interview, Swiss-Ski and the three other associations dropped their lawsuit against Eliasch’s re-election.

Next round in the heavyweight fight between Eliasch and Lehmann it’s all about the calendar again. Lehmann says on a mini online portal: “We have to think about who makes the race calendar. At this time, the planned procedures are not being followed. Right now, one person is doing it from home.”

The FIS fires back with full force. And accuses Lehmann of unethical behavior in a public statement! «All calendars are determined by the FIS council. The current 2023/24 season calendar was unanimously approved by the FIS council, of which Urs Lehmann is also a member. That is why “the FIS condemns such unethical behavior in the strongest possible terms,” writes the World Ski Association. “A councilor has a duty to act with integrity and in the best interests of the FIS.”

Lehmann takes note of these accusations, but is still defending himself. “My criticism was regarding Sun Valley and the overall calendar schedule.” Sun Valley is a mini ski resort that will host the 2025 World Cup Finals. “In recent years, things have not always gone as they used to. That’s not good for the system. I stand by that.”

So now the latest twist in this story. The FIS is threatening to withdraw the 2027 World Ski Championships from Crans-Montana. It concerns supposedly unguaranteed financial security, which, however, can also be interpreted as the next phase in the unspeakable dispute between Eliasch and the Swiss. Does Eliasch want to take one over at Swiss-Ski? One thing is clear: the final chapter in this saga has definitely not been written yet.