Mar 18, 2025 - Most FIS disciplines involve either racing against the clock or posting the best individual score. There are exceptions, though, with Ski Cross, Snowboard Cross, and Cross-Country Skiing seeing athletes go head-to-head.
To avoid accidents or contestants gaining an unfair advantage, those disciplines employ sanctioning systems. In Ski Cross and Snowboard Cross, these use yellow and red cards like those familiar to football followers. In Cross-Country Skiing, there are reprimands which work in a similar way.
Read on to find out which offences result in punishments, and what the consequences are for athletes who break the rules.
Ski Cross rules promote hard but fair racing
The need for discipline among athletes in Ski and Snowboard Cross is obvious with speeds in the former reaching 100km/h. Collisions can potentially cause accidents and injuries, so racers must avoid reckless maneuvers wherever possible.
Ski Cross Assistant Race Director Christian Cretier works under Race Director Klaus Waldner with the pair having raced each other almost two decades ago. Cretier recalls, “In mine and Klaus’ time there were no card systems or sanctions. I think if something was really intentional, to hurt someone, the race director would disqualify the athlete but there were no real rules."
As we were moving forward, we decided to bring in rules for the fairness of the discipline but not to reduce the competitiveness. That’s actually now the difficulty: to find the right balance between this being an action sport where contact is inevitable, and the spirit of the fair fight. We’re always thinking, ‘Should we change this? Should we get a rule for this or a sanction for that?’ And we’re always exchanging ideas with coaches and national associations.Christian Cretier, FIS Ski Cross Assistant Race Director
In Ski and Snowboard Cross, actions by athletes that could be punished are split into three categories. The first is contact from behind or the side, the second is blocking or interference with the body, and the third covers line deviations including drastic changes of direction. However, the consequences have as much of a bearing on sanctions as the move itself.
“If the action doesn’t lead to a crash or affect the result, the athlete will receive a warning,” says Cretier. “If the action causes a change in rank shift or affects the result, the athlete gets a yellow card which means they are ‘Ranked as Last’ (RAL) in their heat and do not advance. But if someone takes out another athlete by accident, it is seen as a race incident and there is no sanction.
“Two warnings in the same race will also result in a yellow card. That stands for the whole season so you have to be careful because a second yellow means a red card and a ban from the next race in the same level of competition.”
During the race, the jury comprising the Race Director (Waldner), Referee (Cretier), Technical Delegate (TD), and Chief of Competition, decides on potential sanctions. The Referee reviews incidents on video and feeds back to the other members of the jury.
“When it’s obvious, I don’t need to ask them,” reveals Cretier. “I can tell them, ‘It’s clearly a yellow card.’ Otherwise, I’m calling down to the TD and Klaus will ask, ‘What do you see here?’ The Chief of Competition is on the slope and doesn’t have access to video, so I’m really consulting with the other two who have screens showing what I’m reviewing. But we have to take the decision very quickly to get on with the race.
“Most of the time, athletes don’t agree with decisions because they are competitors. Even though we have a matrix or framework, all cases are different and we have to understand the needs of the coaches and listen to them.”
All yellow and red cards are looked at after the race by a review board consisting of three coaches from teams not involved with the incident. “We agree to let the people or teams involved listen in, so there’s always discussion,” says Cretier.
As to whether the current system of sanctions works, Cretier is in no doubt. He states, “We’ve never got to the point where anyone continues to trangress after receiving a yellow card and we’ve had just two red cards in history - the second was last year due to two yellows. They’re scared to be punished further, and you can clearly see that having a yellow card changes the way they ski and the way they behave.
“In Europa Cup and FIS races, where you don’t have video control, you see athletes acting differently and gaining bad habits. And when they come up to the World Cup, it’s ‘Wow!’ But they learn very fast how to behave so that’s really good.”
In the pipeline is an education system where athletes, coaches and TDs can access videos of incidents and sanctions. “We’re all about transparency,” Cretier insists, “We’ll upload previous incidents and cases after each race so they have a better understanding of the way we see the sport.”
FIS Ski Cross World Cup Veysonnaz (SUI) 2025 @Agence Zoom
Snowboard Cross adds extra layer of sanctions
The interference rules for Snowboard Cross are almost identical to Ski Cross but, as of the start of this season, an extra ‘soft sanction’ was brought in. Instead of RAL being accompanied by a yellow card, the two have been separated with the card only awarded for a deliberate interference action.
Snowboard Cross Race Director Uwe Beier explains, “If somebody crashed by mistake and took out another racer before, they would be RAL and handed a yellow card despite it being unintentional. Now, they are still ranked as last but there’s no further consequence for other races. This additional layer was a high demand of our community and committees because there were crashes in situations like this when an athlete would get a yellow card just for a riding mistake."
Previously, it was hard for people to understand - and even commentators on TV - why someone got a yellow card, which carried over to future races, for a riding error. That’s why everybody was super happy with this additional layer and it functions really well. We have fewer discussions with our riders and it’s been well accepted.Uwe Beier, FIS Snowboard Cross Race Director
As to why Ski Cross - which does not automatically hand out RAL for a race incident - has not adopted the same strategy, Cretier commented, “We don’t want to brainstorm over a case where we have a very short time to take a decision, and have more discussion with several different interpretations and interests.
“For every yellow card, we have the review board and they can confirm or deny the sanction. If denied, the RAL stands but not the yellow card. We want to keep it simple and use video to explain to athletes, coaches and TDs the rulings we make in a more educational way.”
In both Ski Cross and Snowboard Cross, advances in video technology have made it far easier to analyse incidents and draw correct conclusions. “We’ve stepped it up a lot over the last 10 years,” says Beier. “We request more angles on the course not only for TV but also for our video control. We can now review incidents from one, two, sometimes three different angles.
“In our review panels, we find out if everyone agrees that we came to the right conclusion. We can discuss the decision and how we interpret the rules, what we want to see, and how athletes have to behave.
“At the same time, we want to understand also from the teams’ side what they consider hard riding and not unfair riding. We try to find the line between this being an exciting head-to-head action sport and, at the same time, having it safe and preventing injuries by not having stupid riding.
“I’d say we have a really good balance. No one is happy to get a sanction because that’s part of the game. But I’d say at least nine times out of 10, after seeing the angles and slow-motion replays, athletes change their opinions to match those of the jury. The feedback from coaches and athletes after last season was very positive and gives us a good feeling that we’re on the right path.”
FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup Cervinia (ITA) 2025 @Pentaphoto
Reprimands and disqualifications for Cross-Country Skiers who push the boundaries
While Cross-Country Skiing does not have yellow and red cards as such, its sanctioning system runs along roughly the same lines. As FIS Cross-Country Race Director Michal Lamplot admits, “Officially it’s a written reprimand, but yellow card is what we call it in ‘normal language’.”
The system was brought in when Cross-Country, where athletes usually started at intervals, brought in more Sprint and Mass Start races. “With more head-to-head racing, there was a need to have a different kind of sanctions to the DSQ which has been in place forever,” remarked Lamplot.
The most common infraction in sprinting is obstruction. That can be one athlete crossing into the path of another, or forcing their way into a corner, or changing lanes and making the other athlete either fall or slow down.Michal Lamplot, FIS Cross-Country Race Director
“We have a scope of sanctions in Cross-Country. We have a verbal reprimand which is basically informing the athlete that they’re on the edge of doing something not according to the rules. Then we have the written reprimand for a more severe infraction, but it doesn’t lead to an advantage when it comes to the final result.
“DSQ is the toughest sanction we have but we also have RAL or competition suspension in between for Sprints as well as bonus sprints in Mass Start races. That means you’re ranked last in the round or the heat, so if it’s a Sprint semi-final then you’re placed 12th.”
Reprimands are also in place for technique transgressions in Classic races as opposed to Freestyle races where, as the name suggests, anything goes.
Lamplot says, “The Classic technique is the original technique and how Cross-Country started. The Freestyle technique is faster and a similar movement to ice skating whereas Classic is more like you’re gliding forwards. When it’s flat in Classic, you double-pole and only use your arms. But when you’re going a bit uphill, you have a diagonal style so you’re still gliding.
“Then you have herringbone which is running up the hill but with your skis in a V-shape. You cannot glide so it’s skating and that’s considered a banned technique in Classic because it’s faster. So this is something which could be sanctioned by the yellow card.
“There are also technique infractions on turns. The Classic tracks stop for a while and, when they go straight, some athletes would have an extra push or two out of the apex of the turn. That’s an infraction because your skis must be parallel when you’re going straight in Classic technique - you can’t be pushing as you’re gaining advantage by illegal technique - so this could receive a written reprimand.”
As in Ski Cross and Snowboard Cross, written reprimands are carried by the athlete for the rest of the season so a second would result in automatic disqualification from a race. This scenario occurred in Oslo earlier this month where Ebba Andersson committed her second violation of the Classic technique - the first was in the Tour de Ski in December - and was stripped of third place.
Reprimands remain in place no matter the level of FIS competition, but they are not carried over to major events like World Championships, Junior World Championships and Olympic Winter Games where everyone starts from scratch.
In the Tour de Ski, the most famed stage race on the Cross-Country tour, a disqualification would normally result in elimination from the entire tour. However, the jury can replace the DSQ with a time penalty so the athlete can continue in the event.
Lamplot is pleased with how the system works, observing, “When athletes have a yellow, you see that they are skiing a bit differently. They pay attention, so I think it is OK.”
FIS Cross-Country World Cup Falun (SWE) 2025 @nordicfocus
