2017 WU welcomes Champions from Across the World

ALMATY – The Winter Universiade is the largest multidiscipline 11-day sport competitions in which student-athletes will participate. The 28th edition in Almaty will see some 2,000 athletes competing for 85 sets of medals in the 12 sport disciplines.

The battle for the gold promises to be very entertaining as the WU will feature, among others, many athletes from across the world, who previously won medals in similar competitions, for example, a champion of the Olympic Games 2014 and two-time short track speed skater champion Kim A-lang (South Korea), a participant of the Olympic Games 2014 and two-time jump skiing champion of the Universiade (2013, 2015) Mikhail Maximochkin (Russia), a biathlon champion of the Winter Youth Games 2012 Kim Cheol-yong (South Korea), a free style champion of the 2015 WU Nicole Kucerova (Czechia), a silver medal winner of the Asian Games (2011), two-time champion of the world among juniors 2012 (1,500m and 3,000m) and champion of the 2013 WU Hwang Hyun-sun (South Korea), a two-time biathlon champion of the stage of the World Cup Baptiste Jouty (France), a jump skiing champion of the world among juniors 2014 and a team medal winner of the world among juniors 2013 Krzysztof Biegun, a two-time alpine skiing champion of FIS Race 2016 Dominik Bialobrzeski (Poland), a short track speed skater champion among juniors 2014 and short track speed skater champion of the 2015 WU Chen Guang (China) and many others.  It is planned that the 2017 WU will see the strongest figure skating team from Russia, with World and European 2015 Champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva as a team member.

Domestic preparation for the WU is being done by 175 top-notch Kazakhstani sportsmen among which are the national team’s favorites, including Denis Ten (figure skating), Yulia Galysheva (freestyle), Pavel Kolmakov (freestyle), Zhanbota Aldabergenova (freestyle), Roman Krech (speed skating), Stanislav Palkin (speed skating), Aidar Bekzhanov (short track), Abzal Azhgaliyev (short track), Nurbergen Zhumagaziyev (short track), Denis Nikisha (short track) and many others. A five-time figure skating champion of Kazakhstan Denis Ten also has several top awards, including the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the silver medal of the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championship an the bronze medal of the 2015 ISU World Championship 2015.

As a whole, the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty will feature:

– Three champions and one bronze winner of the Youth Olympic Games;

– 11 champions and six award winners of the world juniors championship;

– Six champions of the Winter Universiades;

– 20 champions and medal winners of the winter starts of FIS and the World Cup Stages.

So, the competitions in Almaty will definitely bring forth new big names to the world sport.

(Source: OC Almaty 2017)