Grass skiing, the beauty of summer

As summer slowly returns to the northern hemisphere, it’s the season for a sport that is little-known but long-thriving – and long supported by FIS. For 45 years there have been World Championships in grass skiing; for 39 of them (since the 1985 Congress in Vancouver) the sport has been part of the International Ski Federation.

Over the decades since the sport has seen many legends created: Stefano Sartori and Sylva Lipčíková from Italy and the Czech Republic, who won the first overall FIS World Cup in 2000; Austria's Ingrid Hirschhofer, a 22 times world champion; Czech Jan Němec, who won the overall world cup nine times; German Vincent Riewe, who dominated the first World Championships in 1979 with three gold medals… this is not to mention current stars such as Japan’s Chisaki Maeda (who has won 13 World Championships between 2015 and 2023), Martin Batak (TCH) and Edoardo Frau (ITA).

In around a month the World Cup kicks off in the Czech Republic, ending in mid-September in Switzerland, with the World Championships held again in 2025. For fans of grass skiing, a thrilling couple of seasons are coming up.