World Para Snow Sports concludes first Online Nations Meeting

A total of 360 participants from 45 countries take part in 100 working sessions during four days 04 Jun 2020
Imagen
A photo collage with two snowboarders, an alpine sit-skier and a cross-country sit-skier
ⒸJani Kärppä-Kota Collective / Luc Percival / Lillehammer LOC
By World Para Snow Sports

The first World Para Snow Sports Online Nations Meetings concluded with 360 participants from 45 countries. 

More than 100 working sessions were conducted by the 25 World Para Snow Sports Working Groups over four days of presentations. 

The Nations Meeting began with sport specific discussions, starting with Para Alpine skiing on 20 May and featuring 90 participants, followed by Para Nordic skiing on 25 May with 80 participants, and Para Snowboard the following day with 70 participants. 

The combined Para Snow Sports Nations Meetings, held on 28 May, had 120 participants with Dimitrije Lazarovksi, Head of World Para Snow Sports, leading the proceedings. 

Lazarovski presented a report about the 2019-2020 season results and improvements as compared to the previous season. 

 

He also updated the member nations about the status of the Lillehammer 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships and the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

Special guests from both of the major events took part in the meeting. Ola Keul made a presentation as the head of the Lillehammer 2021 Local Organising Committee, while Mu Yong made a presentation on behalf of Beijing 2022.

Furthermore, members were informed about the current stage of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) governance re-structure and the next IPC Extraordinary General Assembly.

The combined Nations Meeting also included a presentation about the five-year Para Alpine skiing and Para Nordic skiing vision impairment research conducted by lead professor Kristine Dalton from the University of Waterloo, Canada.

Following the Nations Meeting, World Para Snow Sports will continue to work with the 25 Working Groups in preparation for the coming season and to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

“I would like to thank all our members for coming together during four days to discuss the present and future of the Para Snow Sports,” Lazarovski said.

“We were looking forward to meeting them in person during our Sports Forum but we had to adapt to the unprecedented circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our athletes and sport community. We continue our work and co-operation with Local Organising Committees and health authorities to make sure next season can go ahead as planned,” the Head of World Para Snow Sports added. 

The next Nations Meeting is set to take place in Zurich, Switzerland, on 1 October. 

World Para Snow Sports also announced the dates of the next Sports Forum, to be held next year from 28-31 May in Portoroz, Slovenia.