FIS athlete safety rules, discipline by discipline.

Rules here are competition rules for FIS events (and, for ski mountaineering, ISMF races). They do not apply to recreational skiing. "Level 0-1" in the FIS alpine specifications means the Olympic Winter Games, World Ski Championships, World Cup, World Junior Championships and Continental Cups; "level 2-3-4" means the races FIS abbreviates as FIS, YOG, NC and ENL. FIS says helmets "do not offer an absolute protection", and its own words for the airbag are that it is intended to improve the level of protection; that is not a claim that it prevents injury.

Alpine skiing: airbags in speed events

A search excerpt of a FIS alpine news item, unconfirmed here, says the Alpine Committee had considered recommending a delay to 2025/26 because a number of athletes had problems with airbag size and fit.

What the specification requires of the airbag

Under the 2026/27 alpine specifications (sections 3.5.2.1 to 3.5.2.4), the airbag protector is an electronically inflated cushion triggered on its own by an algorithm that detects a crash. It must inflate within 200 milliseconds between minus 20C and plus 30C, stay fully inflated for at least 3 seconds, cover at least the shoulders, back or chest, be no more than 55 mm thick before inflation, and include a back protector based on EN 1621-2. Its impact test, on a FIS template using EN 1621 protocols, requires an average below 18 kN with at least one value below 6 kN. Each protector carries a fixed label reading "Conforms to FIS Specifications AIRBAG 2024"; makers confirm compliance every year and bear sole responsibility for how it works. The FIS racing airbag is a crash protector, not an avalanche airbag.

Alpine skiing: cut-resistant underwear

• 2025/26 edition, section 3.5.3.4. Cut-resistant underpants mandatory at race levels 0 and 1, strongly recommended at all levels.
• 2026/27 edition, section 3.5.3.4. Mandatory at all FIS alpine events, at a minimum of 3 stars under the FIS-DITF test standard of 2021, covering everything between the iliac crest and the top of the boot. Cut-resistant shirts or full suits are strongly recommended.
• The scale. Ratings run from 1 star (100 N) to 5 stars (500 N). FIS says the garment gives supplementary protection, not unlimited cut protection.
• October 2025 revision. FIS reissued the 2025/26 edition in October 2025; the visible change is a stated label position for shirts as well as pants.

A November 2024 press report, seen only as a search excerpt, said the pants rule would apply from 2025/26 at levels 0 and 1 only. That matches the 2025/26 edition; the 2026/27 edition then widened it to all alpine events.

Helmets by discipline

FIS writes "ASTM 2040" and "CEN 1077" or "CEE 1077" and gives no edition years; these are read as ASTM F2040 and EN 1077, which is an interpretation, not FIS's wording. FIS also states that helmets must be worn as the maker instructs and that makers alone carry product liability (alpine 2026/27, 3.6.3).

Back protectors and other items

• Alpine back protectors (3.5 and 3.5.1). Optional, at most 45 mm thick, top edge no higher than the seventh cervical vertebra, strongly recommended to meet the latest EN 1621-2. FIS recommends EN 1621-2 protectors for children under 12, U14 and U16.
• Freestyle, freeski and ski cross (B.11). Back protection and airbag back protectors are highly recommended. The ski cross airbag specification matches the alpine one, but it is a specification, not a requirement to wear one.
• Snowboard cross (C.7.1). New for 2026/27: back protection is mandatory.
• Ski cross cut protection (B.7.5). New for 2026/27: cut-resistant undergarments of at least 3 stars are mandatory at race level 1 (World Cup, World Championships, Olympic Games, World Junior Championships and Youth Olympic Games), covering everything the suit covers. The two editions place it differently: the 2025/26 edition printed the same rule, marked for implementation in 2026/27, as item 7 of its snowboard chapter, while the 2026/27 edition puts it in the ski cross chapter and its snowboard chapter no longer contains it.
• Ski brakes. Skis without a brake are banned in alpine competition and official training (3.1.5.1, citing ICR 222.1) and in freestyle and ski cross (B.3.3). Freestyle, freeski and ski cross competitors must use a recognised release binding (B.3.1).
• Poles and goggles. Metal pole baskets are banned in alpine, because of injury risk (3.3), and in freestyle and ski cross (B.5). Goggles are recommended in alpine and mandatory in ski jumping (C.11, read from a marked-up copy: needs confirming against a clean copy).
• Ski jumping straps (C.2.3.3). A safety strap linking boot to binding or ski is mandatory unless a binding with a locker system is used (read from a marked-up copy: needs confirming against a clean copy).

The FIS Athlete Health Unit, set up in 2023, launched the Athlete Health Corner where the concussion guidelines sit (concussion by body). Ski measurements are on FIS race ski rules and the race ski checker; suits and airbags in more detail are on race suits, airbags and cut protection.

What this page leaves out

Protective-equipment rules for cross-country, Nordic combined, telemark and para events were not read, nor any FIS rule making airbags mandatory in ski cross. The children's (U14 and U16) columns of the alpine tables could not be read reliably and are not used.