With barely four months to go before the Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, a back-up host has put its hand up. Pietro De Godenz, president of the Nordic Ski Val di Fiemme organising committee, says the Italian valley is ready to stage the 2027 Worlds if FIS asks it to. The offer comes as the row between Sweden and the international federation over Russian and Belarusian athletes keeps escalating.
Sweden moves to block Russian skiers
The dispute was triggered by the Swedish Ski Association. On 21 October, together with the national sports confederation RF, it urged the government to refuse visas to Russian and Belarusian skiers for the championships, which run from 24 February to 7 March 2027 in Falun. According to SVT, 13 Russian cross-country skiers now hold neutral status from FIS, up from just two last season.
Migration minister Johan Forssell confirmed that the government is examining the legal grounds for turning them away. Current law offers possibilities, he told SVT, for instance if someone poses a threat to Sweden's security. His preference, however, is an EU-wide framework that would allow visa restrictions on Russian citizens across Europe.
FIS wants its rulings respected
The federation's response has been firm. FIS communications chief Bruno Sassi acknowledged, according to ProXCskiing, that national laws take precedence over FIS decisions — but stressed that once FIS has ruled neutral athletes can compete, it expects that to be respected. The conditions are clearly defined: individual athletes only, no teams, no flag, no anthem, no team events and full compliance with anti-doping rules.
Pressure from Moscow followed quickly. Aleksandr Govorov, editor-in-chief at RIA Novosti, called the Swedish stance "a provocation against Russian skiers", NRK reported, and pointed to Lithuania, which he said lost a modern pentathlon world championship after a similar refusal.
Val di Fiemme: "A true honour"
That is the backdrop against which De Godenz spoke to the website Fondo Italia. "It is a true honour for us to receive this international recognition," he said, adding that both the will and the venues are there after major investment. NRK quoted him calling Val di Fiemme "a natural replacement". The Italians stress, however, that they have received no formal request from FIS, and Falun remains the official host.
Cross-CountryVisa wall before Ruka: Finland moves to shut out Russian skiersThe Trentino valley has the pedigree. It last hosted the Nordic Worlds in 2013 and staged the Nordic events of the Milano Cortina Olympics in February 2026. Its organisers say they want to bring the championships back to Fiemme in the near future regardless.
Anxiety in Falun
In Sweden, nerves are fraying. Local paper Falu-Kuriren has already described it as a "nightmare scenario" for a town set to host for the fifth time after 1954, 1974, 1993 and 2015. Olympic team sprint champion Maja Dahlqvist, who has moved to Falun, told the paper that losing the Worlds would be disappointing and very sad — though she believes the championships will stay put.
Whether they do now largely depends on the Swedish government's legal review. The first real test of how neutral Russian athletes are handled comes at the World Cup opener in Ruka at the end of November.
