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For the Olympic sport: freestyle skiing -How many country federations exist? Who are the heads of the international federations for this sport? What are the top 10 sources of media/news?
Hi! Thanks for your question about Olympic- and international-level freestyle skiing. Here's the short version: the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS, or International Ski Federation) is the sport's governing body and primary source for media coverage and information about skiing. Read on for a deeper dive into my findings.
METHODOLOGY
I started at the FIS website to get an idea of what the organization says about itself and to see if they had lists of their leadership and member countries, which they did.
From there, I also looked at the FIS's media offerings to start building a list of sources for freestyle skiing media and news. I then checked the Alexa rankings for ski-related websites to see which sites get the most traffic. Few of those sites were actually media-focused, so I ran a wider search for the top ski-related print and other media.
Since most of the mainstream ski media I found double- and triple-dips into various winter sport areas, I also looked at the websites for a few country ski federations for more media and news specific to freestyle.
FIS LEADERSHIP
The FIS is governed by a 19-member council: 1 President, 4 Vice Presidents, 13 Council Members and a Secretary General. They are:
President:
Gian Franco Kasper
Vice Presidents:
Janez Kocijancic
Aki Murasato
Dexter Paine
Sverre Seeberg
Council Members:
Dong-Bin Shin
Jessica Lindell-Vikarby
Mats Arjes
Andrey Bokarev
Dean Gosper
Alfons Hormann
Roman Kumpost
Flavio Roda
Eduardo Roldan
Peter Schrocksnadel
Patrick Smith
Martti Uusitalo
Michel Vion
Secretary General:
Sarah Lewis
COUNTRY SKI FEDERATIONS
According to this list on the FIS website, there are 128 country ski federations in the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. This should be a comprehensive list, as country federations are required to register with the FIS in order to compete in FIS competitions.
FREESTYLE SKIING MEDIA OUTLETS
The official website of the FIS. The FIS provides official media through a partnership with InFront Sports.
"Ski reports, snow conditions, live cams, and weather forecasts for more than 700 ski areas worldwide."
Similar to #2 but focused on French ski areas.
The official website of a US ski area.
A news and community site for skiing and other extreme sports.
An "online community with skier blogs, team and park information, a forum, photos, and an event calendar."
The official website for Powder, a skiing print magazine.
The official site for this Canadian ski resort.
Another skiing community site with "gear information, resort insights, training center," and more.
The official site for the Breckenridge ski resort in Colorado, USA.
A ski-specific magazine providing "all of the relevant info for those who want to embrace the skiing lifestyle."
A magazine with information about "skiing, snowboarding, and other mountaineering-related activities."
Like the title suggests, this is a ski- and snowboard-focused magazine.
General ski info and "aspects of the lifestyle, like travel recommendations and clothing options."
A magazine for "the true skier who is not afraid to pursue the next challenge."
Launched in 1988, this is "the UK’s bestselling and longest running paid for winter sports publication."
A free UK-based ski and snowboard magazine. Its monthly web version is emailed to over 200,000 people.
A magazine for free-thinking skiers and snowboarders, "bringing skiers an alternative to the other monotonous skiing magazines" since 1972.
A ski magazine founded in 1991, featuring "ski news, ski gear, snow safety, backcountry, travel and interviews by ski professionals."
Most of these publications are more broadly winter-sports-based, but organizational sites often have more news specific to freestyle skiing. The FIS site has a whole section for freestyle ski news, for example. The sites for the US Ski Team, the Canadian Freestyle Team, and the French Ski Federation all have strong news offerings.
CONCLUSION
The FIS is the governing body for freestyle skiing worldwide. It's governed by a Council with 19 members. There are 128 country ski federations in the world.
The FIS is the most-visited ski-related website, and skiers have a plethora of websites and magazines to choose from to get their ski news and media. If a person is looking for freestyle skiing-specific news and media, their best bet is probably the website for their country's ski team or federation.
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