David Wise has been practically unbeatable in the pipe the last few years. Now, he’s taking on the school bully—FIS. Photo: Gabe L’Heureux/4FRNT
When Kyle Smaine won the FIS World Championship for men’s ski halfpipe on January 22, it seemed like a heart-warming changing-of-the-guard story. Smaine, a South Lake Tahoe skier who’d never won a major contest, took a title held by David Wise, the Olympic and three-time defending X Games gold medalist also from the Tahoe region. The problem is, Wise wasn’t in Kreischberg, Austria, to defend his title. Nor were any of the medalists from Sochi. An event that presumed to crown the best halfpipe skier in the world actually only featured two athletes who competed in the last Olympics, and only one who finished in the top 10.
Instead, the best halfpipe skiers in the world were in Aspen, Colorado, training for the X Games. The ESPN-owned and run X Games are held the same week every year, taking advantage of the lull between the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl. This year, FIS (International Ski Federation) scheduled their “world championships” over the same period, a move that riled the sport’s best competitor.
Wise decided not to defend his halfpipe world championship, and instead will go for his fourth consecutive X Games Aspen gold medal. Photo: Gabe L’Heureux/4FRNT
“I honestly believe that FIS thought we would skip the X Games to attend World Champs,” Wise writes. “X Games was a major force in getting our sport in front of the masses, and it was X Games that enabled many skiers to even be professionals during the early years. While FIS was reluctant to include us in anything that might tarnish their polished image, the X Games embraced us and gave us a chance.”
It may seem strange to watch an athlete, particularly the sport’s most dominant competitor, lash out at a governing body. Think of the fallout if Rory McIlroy laid into the PGA over a scheduling conflict with an event owned by ESPN. For those who know the sport, however, it was rather predictable.
FIS and the athletes who compete for them have always had a relationship that’s tenuous, bordering on strained. Once your cross over into the freestyle disciplines or snowboarding (FIS dates back to 1910 and has its roots in racing, and also oversees Olympic qualifying for snowboarding), it gets downright confrontational. In the early years of the X Games, many skiers competed with “FIS Sucks” stickers on helmets and skis. It was only when the prospect of Olympic inclusion surfaced that halfpipe skiers warmed up to the Europe-based governing body.
That FIS would soon go after the X Games was also foreseeable. FIS has a storied history of bullying competing tours in snowboarding. In 2002, they drove the International Snowboarding Federation (ISF) out of business, prompting the sport’s best rider, Terje Haakonsen, to boycott the first Olympic snowboard halfpipe competition. They employed similar tactics with the Haakonsen-founded Ticket To Ride tour once slopestyle was announced as an Olympic sport.
Haakonsen is one of many to back Wise’s rant via twitter:
It’s understandable why FIS would want total control over skiing, the way they already do with ski racing, and similar to how the PGA and WTA control golf and tennis, respectively. The difference (or one of many) here is that the X Games offers a history and a level of exposure that FIS can’t match with any of their events, including their “world championships.”
By trying to undermine the biggest event in North America, for a sport with its roots in North American, FIS is making pipe skiing even more confusing to the casual fan. It would be like the PGA scheduling a world championship the same weekend as The Masters. In short: unheard of.
Wise will go for his fourth consecutive X Games gold medal on Sunday in Aspen. For a complete schedule of events at the X Games, visit XGames.com.
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