Jacqui and Gordon Crawford give their introduction to the workings of FIS Points.

In reality, FIS points can be a complete mystery to most. Certainly it was a long time before we had a grasp of the system. This is our best effort to explain.

FIS points are organised so that the best in the world in each discipline has 0 points and the 31st in the world has 6 points. Occasionally everyone’s FIS points are adjusted to ensure that this is the case. Thus a racer’s FIS points are a measure of how he/she compares with the rest of the world. A racer’s FIS points are the average of the racer’s best 2 races in that discipline in the last 13 months (one year plus a list). So to improve FIS points the racer has to be better that his second best result in the last year.

Simple approximate FIS points calculation

To calculate the approximate FIS points gained by a racer:-Take FIS points of winner. Take the number of seconds difference between winner and your racer and multiply by 17 for DH, 13 for SG, 8 for GS and 6 for SL. Add the two together. Easy!!

The calculation is less accurate for BASS points (due to the smaller number of races done by the top competitors). However taking the last few years results into consideration the multiplying factors are SG - 19, GS - 20 and SL - 15.

Official Method of Calculation

For those of you who need to be more accurate or have an excellent grasp of mental arithmetic: the number of FIS points achieved in a race is the sum of the race penalty and the competitors race points. The race penalty reflects the top competitors in the race. The competitors race points reflect the difference between the competitor and the winner.

Race points are calculated:-

P = (Tx-To) x F To

P = Race Points
Tx = Racers time in seconds
To = Winners time in seconds

F = "F" factor is announced annually for each discipline

In 2010 / 2011 these F Factors are;
Downhill 1330
Super G 1060
Super Combined 1130
Giant Slalom 870
Slalom 610

Race Penalty is calculated (not for mental arithmetic)

RPP = (A+B-C)/10
where
RPP = Race penalty Point
A = FIS point total of best 5 racers who started the race
B = FIS point total of the 5 racers with the best FIS finishing in the top 10
C = The race points of the racers in B

BASS Points
BASS points is the points system used in Britain for non FIS races. Racers can start to accumulate BASS points when they enter Children 1 age group. They are linked to but not interchangeable with FIS points. When a racer enters Junior 1 he/she can start to accumulate FIS points but there is no carry over of BASS points.