We have pleasure sending you today the Minutes of the Nordic Combined Committee meeting held in Zürich (SUI), Friday,

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1 To the - Members of the Nordic Combined Committee For information to: - Nordic Combined Executive Board - National Ski Associations - Gian Franco Kasper - Sarah Lewis - Member Athletes Commission - Inggard Lereim, NOR (Medical Committee) INTERNATIONAL SKI FEDERATION Blochstrasse Oberhofen/Thunersee Switzerland Tel Fax Oberhofen, Minutes 80 th Nordic Combined Committee Meeting Hotel Hilton International, Zürich-Airport (SUI): Dear Ski Friends, We have pleasure sending you today the Minutes of the Nordic Combined Committee meeting held in Zürich (SUI), Friday, You are kindly asked to send any remarks to the FIS Office in Oberhofen until 1 st November We would also like to take this opportunity of informing you that the minutes are available on the Member Services section of the FIS Website: Thank you very much for your valuable contribution. We wish you a nice autumn. Kind regards, INTERNATIONAL SKI FEDERATION Lasse Ottesen Race Director Nordic Combined Enclosure: ment.

2 INTERNATIONAL SKI FEDERATION Nordic Combined Committee Invitation Nordic Combined Committee Hotel Hilton, Zürich-Airport (SUI), Friday, , hrs Conference Room Berne AGENDA 1. Opening of the meeting 2. Members 3. Approval of the agenda 4. Approval of the minutes of the Nordic Combined Committee meeting in Costa Navarino (GRE), Report of the last FIS Council meeting 6. Report Youth Cup / Summer Grand Prix World Cup and Continental Cup calendars 2018/ /20 8. SGP calendar Other items arising 10. Next meetings - FIS Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Sub-Committee meetings, Zürich (SUI), 12./13. April Nordic Combined Committee meeting during the FIS Calendar Conference, Dubrovnik (CRO), Closing of the meeting Minutes 80 th Meeting Nordic Combined Committee,

3 All proposals and decisions of the Nordic Combined Committee meeting are subject to the approval of the FIS Council on Opening of the Meeting Chairman Horst Hüttel welcomed all members and guests and uttered a special thank you to all Summer Grand Prix Organisers for a successful summer Race Director Lasse Ottesen also briefly welcomed all Committee members and guests to the 80 th Meeting of the Nordic Combined Committee in Zürich. 2. Members Present Remarks Substitutes HÜTTEL Horst GER Chairman ABE Masashi JPN BORGEN Paul Einar NOR BUKOVNIK Janez SLO CHASHCHYN Leonid BLR CHUDY Peter SVK DAKINE, Abdelhak, MAR absent DEMONG, Billy USA DUBROVSKY Stanislav RUS HEILIG John CAN KEMPF Hippolyt SUI excused Joel Bieri KOYONCU Ozkan TUR LAZZARONI Eric FRA MICHALCZUK Jakub POL PELKONEN Jyri FIN PERTILE Sandro ITA excused (after SJ) Andrea Roggia SLAVIK, Tomas CZE TAHK Suzanne EST VERVEYKIN, Andrey KAZ YOU, Juhee, KOR CSAR Günter AUT for S.C. NC for Rules & Control, LAHEURTE Maxime FRA for Athletes Commission, excused HAIM Harald AUT Ex officio for Youth & Children s questions ULVANG Vegard NOR Ex officio for Cross-Country KOJONKOSKI, Mika FIN Ex officio for Ski Jumping OTTESEN Lasse FIS Race Director GRAVE Jan Rune FIS Assistant Race Director NEUMAYER, Michael FIS COC Coordinator TEGETHOF Silke FIS Media Coordinator Guests LEHMAN Hannu FIN OC Lahti HANSMANN Benita FISMAG KIRNBAUER Yvonne AUT OC Seefeld BEKKER, Alexander RUS ERCOLANI Maddalena INFRONT Minutes 80 th Meeting Nordic Combined Committee,

4 GRABOWSKI Filip INFRONT BERGER Wenche NOR OC Oslo FURULI Eiliv NOR OC Lillehammer ANDRESEN Erik NOR OC Trondheim MORSETH Bjørn NOR OC Trondheim WIARTALLA Angela GER OC Oberstdorf BELLANTE Cristina ITA OC Val di Fiemme DEFRANCESCO Marica ITA OC Val di Fiemme LINDFORS Mats FIN KAPLAN Necati TUR 3. Approval of the Agenda The agenda was sent out on The Committee approved the agenda. 4. Approval of the Minutes from the 79 th Nordic Combined Committee Meeting in Costa Navarino (GRE), The minutes were approved unanimously. 5. Report of the last FIS Council Meeting All proposals from Costa Navarino confirmed. 6. Report Youth Cup / Summer Grand Prix 2018 Race Director Lasse Ottesen reported on successful summer competitions in the Summer Grand Prix for ladies and men and the FIS Youth Cup. FIS Youth Cup 2018 The FIS Youth Cup in Oberstdorf was held without the Boys II category this time, actually due to the luxury problem of having too many participants in the past years. Still, 90 athletes from 12 nations were on start, 38 girls and 45 boys, and the feedback regarding the event quality was very good. On the second competition day, a cross-run was held for instead of a rollerski race. There was not a lot of feedback regarding that and FIS is of course open for suggestions what to do next summer. It definitely has to be noted that the rollerskiing level of the boys and girls has risen considerably again, so that also two rollerski competitions would not be a problem. The FIS Youth Cup in Oberstdorf is well-integrated in the SGP event with the prize giving ceremony done by the big stars of the discipline. A lot of hard work goes into organising this, but it creates a great experience for the young participants and is good advertising for the sport. Not only the competition itself is important but also the framework program around it and the organisers in Oberstdorf are doing a very good job at providing a unique experience to the young participants. Next winter, the FIS Youth Cup date in Norway might change and FIS is working on a second option in winter to replace Harrachov (CZE) that could not host the events this year due to construction work. Next summer, the Youth Cup in Oberstdorf will also not be possible due to World Ski Championships constructions. FIS is also working on another option here, again in conjunction with the Summer Grand Prix to keep this special experience for the young athletes. FIS Summer Grand Prix 2018 The highlights of this summer was the premiere of a Ladies GP. While Oberwiesenthal did not have the biggest starting field, the level of the competing girls was very good. Minutes 80 th Meeting Nordic Combined Committee,

5 As the hill was a HS 106, this competition was not for all girls yet. A positive development in the numbers of participants is expected in the next years. The men had a great start of the summer tour in Oberwiesenthal with a photo finish, record breaking spectator numbers, a newly installed big screen, cameras along the way, and two speakers reporting from the track. The spectators saw more and the level of professionality of the event rose yet again. The mid-week event in Villach is a challenge in terms of spectators. In the future, FIS would like to plan it in an even better way and find a weekend, which will help the organisers to attract more spectators to the event. Sports-wise it was a fantastic organisation and venue. The weather at the third tour stop in Oberstdorf was challenging with a lot of rain and a thunderstorm stopping the programme. Bad weather like this also stops the spectator flow and so the atmosphere is not the same as in good weather. The visibility for the athletes during the rollerski race was also on the limit. In general, however, it was a really fantastic, well-organised event. FIS is looking for a different venue for next summer due to the World Ski Championships constructions due to begin. The Grand Prix finals were hosted in Planica, which is one of the best venues available in Nordic sports. The speaker team is fantastic and on the World Cup level, which makes a huge difference in the production of the event. In total, 66 athletes took points in the summer of 2018, 14 nations were on start and approximately spectators visited the competitions, a slightly lower number this year, largely due to the bad weather for some of the events. Next year, one of the big goals will be to provide live streaming options. The Race Director repeated that it is important to be and visible in the summer and that streamed events can also be more attractive to sponsors. Committee member Billy Demong reported on his experiences with live-streaming last year s COC in Steamboat Springs and also the US national championships. He stressed the importance of pulling in partners to spread the stream unique viewers watched the US nationals via stream, which is a lot higher number than spectators in the stadium. While he admitted that the process is labour intensive he also shared the finding that live-streaming really adds to the value of the event and the opportunities to add sponsors and partners. Equipment Control Two major points were tested during the summer in terms of the Equipment Control: the BMI without shoes and the mandatory Swiss Timing chip. Swiss Timing had an intense test of the chip in Oberstdorf but outcome was not fully positive. They will test it again on the last weekends of the Ski Jumping Summer Grand Prix and a final decision will be made after if it will be used in the winter of not. Lucien Leonhard from Swiss Timing held a short ation and demonstrated some of the features of the system on a new app and answered questions. Minutes 80 th Meeting Nordic Combined Committee,

6 Equipment Controller Guntram Kraus reported on a significant rise in disqualifications in this summer with 15 cases in the OPA series and 42 in the Grand Prix, two of them ladies. The disqualifications included rule violations in regard to the suits, belts, shoes and ski length. His clear message was that the reasons for this negative development need to be looked into and the teams need to be informed, so that they are safe in the winter. In addition, Kraus will prepare a list during the winter season from Ruka to Schonach to monitor the development of the athletes weight and ski length. In the summer, there were 12 athletes on start, who were on the limit with BMI. A trend to rather cut the skis and remain lighter than gain weight and use the maximum ski length has become apparent. Kraus will update the Committee on this development at the next meeting in Cavtat-Dubrovnik. The Nordic Combined Ladies will get their own equipment controllers, with Anja Tepes and Kerstin Löscher taking up the task in the next winter season. 7. World Cup and Continental Cup Calendars 2018/19 and 2019/20 Race Director Lasse Ottesen the final calendars for the upcoming season and showed drafts for the following 2019/20 season. Continental Cups 2018/19 Ottesen thanked Bill Demong and the US for their work since Costa Navarino. Both American COC stops were up for discussion and with them on the calendar, the second Continental Cup winter came together nicely for the Ladies. Demong brought up a suggestion from the Organising Committee to start with a night event on Friday instead of Saturday as originally planned, which was confirmed by all Committee members. A show of hands revealed that seven nations intend to send girls to the US competitions. Ottesen remarked that FIS is expecting as many nations as possible to be. The Nordic Combined organising committees offer fantastic support in hosting many competitions and invest in the discipline and the ladies development, now it is up to the National Ski Associations to do the same. He reminded everybody that all nations have to make sure that the best athletes are on start. The Committee and the organisers did great work in the past to provide full calendars. He asked all Committee members to bring the message home to their associations that if they do not send the best athletes, the calendars will decline again. He named Russia as an example where the best athletes were not on start and it disappeared from the World Cup calendar again. The same goes for the World Cup in Japan. Billy Demong pointed out that everybody was surprised that the IOC chose to not include the Nordic Combined ladies in the 2022 programme in spite of a very swift development, even ahead of schedule on Nordic Combined s part. He added that this decision should open everyone s eyes that they have to push hard and keep the foot on the gas, otherwise the men s side of the discipline might also be in jeopardy. In his opinion, Nordic Combined cannot wait for ladies to develop slowly from the bottom up, he encouraged everyone to reach down and get them up by forming ladies teams, junior team and providing them with resources. Minutes 80 th Meeting Nordic Combined Committee,

7 After suggestions by Chairman Horst Hüttel and Sandro Pertile, Bill Demong and Dmitry Dubrovsky will look into providing the services of a group of waxers/ski technicians for the overseas competitions in the US and in for the Continental Cup finals in Nizhny Tagil. The group is intended for common use by teams who do not have the resources to send a full team of athletes and service personnel. The offers will be available to men s and ladies teams to reduce costs. Both offers will be included in the invitations for the events. The Committee agreed that this model could be developed further in the future to reduce the gap between the bigger and smaller nations and make sure also smaller nations can be at more competitions. The Committee also unanimously accepted a proposal by the Russian Ski Association to change the program of the Continental Cup finals in Nizhny Tagil to have a Mass Start for men and ladies on Saturday. The men s programme will be adapted to the Cross-Country distances of 5 km on Friday (Ind. Gundersen), 10 km on Saturday (Mass Start) and 15 km (Final Ind. Gundersen) on Sunday. World Cup 2018/19 Ottesen proceeded to briefly explain the two open weekends in December, which are due to the fact that Ramsau am Dachstein had to be postponed one week due to a conflicting schedule with the Biathlon event in Hochfilzen. He also briefly reported on the very promising inspection for the Nordic Combined Triple in Chaux-Neuve. He concluded his World Cup ation by expressing his satisfaction with Trondheim moving to a full open weekend in January. This is a much better setup without conflicting events for Nordic Combined. The calendars are available on the FIS Website: 8. Summer Grand Prix 2019 Ottesen also briefly ed drafts for extended Summer Grand Prix calendars 2019 for men and ladies, featuring an event already in July, continuing all the way to October with the finals. More details will follow at the next Committee meeting in Cavtat- Dubrovnik. 9. Other Matters Arising - The Committee agreed to adapt the Nordic Combined quota for the Junior World Championships to 5 ladies and 5 men each, four of which can start in the events. - Anja Tepes and Kerstin Löscher were named as Equipment Controllers for the Ladies Continental Cup. - The next Nordic Combined TD Seminar will take place from the 14 th 16 th of June in Wisla (POL). - A working group Ladies Development was formed and will be led by Committee members Billy Demong (USA) and Suzanne Tahk (EST). It s main purpose is to exchange information and experiences, discuss topics and issues. Demong and Tahk will get in contact with other persons involved in the development of Nordic Combined in the different countries to create a good network. Minutes 80 th Meeting Nordic Combined Committee,

8 - As the Chairman of the Sub-Committee for Officials, Rules and Control informed, William Trachsel (FRA) has been nominated twice next season as National TD for the World Cup in Chaux-Neuve and as TD at the Alpencup finals. He reaches the age limit of 65 in the course of the winter but there is currently only one active TD in France. - The Race Director also mentioned the vision to have the first-ever Ladies World Cup event together with the Men s finals in Schonach in the season 2019/20 already. It will be essential to set a good plan towards the 2021 World Championships premiere in place and so it would be good to have the first World Cup already one year before. The girls eligible to participate would have to qualify through the Continental Cup, as one idea. He also informed the Committee that there are currently 140 ladies from 19 nations registered with a FIS Code in Nordic Combined. 10. Next Meetings The next meetings will take place as following: - 12./13. April 2019, FIS Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Sub-Committee meetings, Zürich (SUI) , FIS Calendar Conference in Dubrovnik (CRO) The provisional timetable is available on the FIS Website: , FIS Autumn Meetings, Zürich, SUI 11. Closing of the Meeting The Chairman Horst Hüttel thanked everybody for the constructive discussions and closed the meeting. Minutes 80 th Meeting Nordic Combined Committee,