The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) presidential election result is in and the vote couldn’t have been closer. In one of the closest and most consequential votes in the history of international skiing, Johan Eliasch has been ousted as president of FIS. Alexander Ospelt, a lawyer from Liechtenstein and member of the FIS council, defeated the incumbent 65–64 at the FIS congress in Belgrade on Thursday June 11 — a margin of a single vote that ends five years of one of the most turbulent presidencies in the sport’s modern era.
The result immediately reshapes the power structure of international ski racing, ending a tenure marked by sustained tension between Eliasch and the sport’s traditional European and North American power blocs. The campaign for change had been driven by major ski nations and supported publicly by some of the sport’s biggest names, including Mikaela Shiffrin, Marco Odermatt, and Loïc Meillard.
The Belgrade congress opened with signs of a fractured federation. As SnowBrains reported ahead of the vote, opposition to Eliasch had been building for months, and that pressure became immediately visible once proceedings began.
On an 88% vote, member federations moved to bring the presidential election forward as the first item on the agenda — a procedural shift widely interpreted as evidence of coordinated resistance among national federations. A subsequent 60% vote to switch to paper ballots instead of electronic voting further underscored mistrust in the governance process. FIS’s weighted voting system — which gives established ski nations two or three votes rather than a strict one-nation-one-vote model — ultimately produced a result that could not have been closer.
The election had crystallized around a series of governance and financial concerns that had been building throughout Eliasch’s five-year presidency. FIS financial reserves had reportedly fallen from approximately CHF 130 million ($162 million) to around CHF 43 million ($54 million) during his tenure, a figure circulated in an open letter coordinated by athlete representative AJ Ginnis and signed by leading athletes including Marco Odermatt, Mikaela Shiffrin, and Loïc Meillard.
Seven national ski federations — including the United States, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Norway, Spain, and Canada — had also sent a joint letter urging member associations to support leadership change ahead of the vote.
The final days before the congress were marked by additional turbulence, including the disinvitation of Alexandra Meissnitzer — a former Olympic medalist appointed to Eliasch’s own President’s Office — after she publicly questioned the direction of FIS in an interview with Austrian media. FIS CEO Urs Lehmann had also resigned shortly before the vote following disagreements over the federation’s financial direction.
The coalition for change — combining major national federations and athlete influence — ultimately prevailed, but only just. The 65–64 margin meant a single vote switching sides would have reversed the outcome.
Eliasch, a billionaire businessman and owner of Head sports equipment, had maintained support from several smaller member federations throughout his presidency, a dynamic that kept the result in doubt until the final count. A dual citizen of Sweden and the United Kingdom, he had been unable to secure nomination from either country and entered the election via the federation of Georgia.
In his concession speech, Eliasch alleged that the International Olympic Committee attempted to influence the vote, calling for FIS to defend its independence. “The IOC tried to influence the outcome of today’s vote. Against this we must stay firm,” he said. He congratulated Ospelt and closed his remarks with characteristic defiance: “It’s been a great privilege to serve you. Either way I am very happy.”
Eliasch’s defeat also ends his membership of the International Olympic Committee, where he had previously stood as a candidate in the presidential election won by Kirsty Coventry.
Ospelt will formally assume the presidency one day after the election under FIS rules, leaving Eliasch to complete the remainder of congress proceedings in his final official capacity. Ospelt, who served on the FIS council under Eliasch’s presidency, struck a markedly different tone in his first address as president-elect. “I will be the president for all of you. Let’s be united,” he said. “I start this job with great joy and humility.”
He does not automatically become a member of the International Olympic Committee, though he is expected to be invited given FIS’s role in governing roughly half of all Winter Olympic medal events.
Ospelt now inherits a federation divided between traditional ski nations and smaller member associations, alongside unresolved debates over governance structure, financial oversight, and athlete influence. The immediate challenge will be restoring trust between FIS and its most powerful stakeholders after a presidency defined by internal conflict. The athlete letter, national federation pressure, leadership resignations, and governance disputes all reflected a federation under sustained strain.
The major ski nations — including the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria — are expected to welcome the change in leadership after years of tension within the federation. What Ospelt delivers over his four-year term will now shape the direction of World Cup ski racing at a pivotal moment for the sport, with expectations high that the new presidency will stabilize governance and strengthen the World Cup circuit in the years ahead.
