Injury Protection For Your National or FIS points
There is no such thing as a "Points Freeze." Points will either go down (through performance) or they will go up (through performance, inactivity, or injury). Applying for injury protection limits the amount your points will go up, but they do not freeze.
Athletes must maintain appropriate U.S. Ski & Snowboard and FIS memberships to maintain points.
For FIS, any application that is submitted to FIS after April 30 will not be considered, there are no exceptions to this rule. I have the date for submittal to U.S. Ski & Snowboard as April 15 to give time to apply, review and finalize applications.
FIS uses an online application. To begin the process, send an email to Jeff Weinman (jeff.weinman@usskiandsnowboard.org) and include the following information.
- Athlete name
- Email address for athlete
- FIS ID
- Date of injury
- Time of injury (approximate time of day)
You will then need a letter from the athlete's doctor that includes their name, a description of the injury, and the actual date of injury, to complete the process. The date of injury should match between the letter and the form. The only exception to this would be if you had an original date of injury that you tried to work through and later causedremoval from competition - include both those dates if this is the case.
If you are injured for more than one year in a row, you must apply for injury protection each year - the protection does not carry over.
NATIONAL RULES (from the Competition Guide):
Single Penalization Situations
(sickness, injury, other obligations)
Competitors who are unable to compete in sufficient scored events to maintain their seed points because of injury or illness, studies, military obligations, or church commitments may protect their points through single penalization. Single penalization cannot be requested for lack of calendar opportunities.
U.S. Ski & Snowboard and FIS membership must be renewed every year to maintain points, even when an athlete has single penalty protection. FIS membership must be renewed by June 15 to appear on the first FIS list and maintain FIS points.
Application forms and medical certificates must be submitted by the dates listed earlier in this book under Alpine Important Dates - there are no exceptions to the deadlines.
Injury or Illness
Single penalization is determined at the end of the season. Documentation of injury with inability to compete information should be submitted immediately to U.S. Ski & Snowboard Competition Services staff.
For a competitor to obtain a single penalty, he or she must submit the FIS and/or the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Single Penalty Request forms, which include:
1. Name, FIS or national ID, and address of the athlete,
2. Time/Date and place of the accident,
3. Type of injury,
4. Athletes signature with date.
A separate Medical Certificate from the athlete’s physician detailing the injury and length of inability to compete is also required. This letter must include the date of the injury.
Inability to compete for more than one year, due to injury or illness, will result in a single penalty each year if requested by the athlete. Single penalization will be in addition to any general zeroing adders or other adjustments to the total list.
Professional, Educational, Military, or Religious Obligations
Applications for single penalization due to professional obligations must be submitted prior to the beginning of the period indicated. Later applications will not be considered.
Approval of Single Penalty Requests - national points
Single penalty applications are not automatically approved. Approval depends on the timing of injury or illness, duration of inability to compete, and the number of starts and/or results made (three starts or two finishes in DH or SG, or five starts in SL or GS normally disqualify single penalty requests).
Consideration and approval of national single penalty requests and forwarding of FIS requests is the responsibility of the Competition Services staff, whose decisions are subject to appeal in writing to the chairman of the Alpine Classification Working Group.
There is no such thing as a "Points Freeze". Points will either go down (through performance) or they will go up (through performance, inactivity, or injury). Applying for injury protection limits the amount your points will go up, but they do not freeze.
Athletes must maintain appropriate U.S. Ski & Snowboard and FIS memberships to maintain points.
For FIS, any application that is submitted to FIS after April 30 will not be considered, there are no exceptions to this rule. I have the date for submittal to U.S. Ski & Snowboard as April 15 to give time to apply, review and finalize applications.
FIS uses an online application - see the tab FIS Process. A letter from the athlete's doctor that includes their name, a description of the injury, and the actual date of injury, must be included. The date of injury should match between the letter and the form. The only exception to this would be if say you had an original date of injury that caused you tried to work through and later cause removal from competition - include both those dates if this is the case.
If you are injured for more than one year in a row, you must apply for injury protection each year - the protection does not carry over.
FIS RULES (from the FIS Rules of the Points book)
4.6Injury Status
4.6.1Registration
When a competitor injures himself and applies for the single penalty, the National Ski Association must apply to the FIS as soon as possible or latest 30th April for the approval using the official form and submitting a medical certificate. This official form and medical certificate are only valid for one season. (World Cup: see World Cup Rules art 21.2)
4.6.1.1Conditions
- At least 8 months must have been passed between the time of the injury and the competitors 1st start.
- Competitors must remain registered as active with the FIS to maintain injury protection.
- A competitor has not started more than five (5) times (FIS and COC level competitions) + four (4) times (World Cup competitions) in one event and/or more than fifteen (15) times (FIS and COC level competitions + eight (8) times (World Cup competitions) across all events during the valid season.
4.6.1.2WCSL Top 30
Athletes who are ranked in the top 30 of the WCSL at the time of their injury and who will be ranked outside top 30 of the WCSL after applying the single penalty according to art. 21.4 of the World Cup rules, will get the better of their normally calculated FIS points for the BL or the points of the rank in the BL FIS point list which equates to their rank in the WCSL.
Notes on the above section
Once you are over the start limit count in one discipline, you are ineligible for protection in all disciplines.
Point Calculations
4.2FIS Points
4.2.1Base FIS Points list (BL) (*)
The Base FIS Points List (BL) will be published middle of June.
4.2.1.1The average of the best two results in each event during the past season will be used for the calculation of the BL list.
4.2.1.2For a competitor who has obtained only one result in any of the alpine events (Downhill, Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super G or Alpine Combined), during the past season period, 20% (+) of his result will be added to the result.
4.2.1.3For a competitor who has not obtained results in any of the alpine events (Downhill, Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super G or Alpine Combined), during the past season period, a 50% (>) will be added to his previous BL points. These competitors must remain registered as active with the FIS.
4.2.1.4If the status as injured is approved, and a competitor has not started more than five (5) times (FIS and COC level competitions) plus four (4) times (World Cup competitions) in one event and/or more than fifteen (15) times (FIS and COC level competitions) plus eight (8) times (World Cup competitions) across all events during the valid season 10% (#) will be added to the competitor’s BL if the current points are not better than the protected points.