FISU sport competition is set to return in what will be an exhilarating 2022 season. After 2020 saw the majority of events cancelled, this year will be a busy one for FISU with 14 World University Championships and eight University World Cups. The FISU World University Championships feature athletes competing for their countries while the FISU University World Cups see competitors represent their universities.

Lake Placid will host the 2022 FISU Championship Speed Skating

The first in-person FISU sporting event since the Amsterdam 2020 FISU Championship Speed Skating will take place in Jachymov, Czech Republic 22 February when the 2022 FISU Championship Ski Orienteering commences. Roughly 75 skiers from upwards of 12 countries are expected to compete in the Czech Ore Mountains to kick off the FISU World University Championships season.

Busy Hosting Year Starts for Lake Placid

Following the 2022 FISU Championship Ski Orienteering, the Village of Lake Placid in the United States will start what will be a busy stretch for them as they host three events in the next year. The first will be the 2022 FISU Championship Speed Skating on the James C. Sheffield Olympic Skating Rink 2-5 March. Then later in the summer from 24-28 August, the 2022 FISU World Championship Beach Volleyball, one of FISU’s largest events, will be held. These both will lead up to next January when the upstate New York village will play host to the 2023 Lake Placid FISU World University Games Winter.

Wrestling will be one of six sports that is part of the 2022 FISU World Cup Combat SportsCombat Sports Come Together

A unique addition to the calendar is the Ekaterinburg 2022 FISU University World Cup Combat Sports. This event will bring together the sports of boxing, karate, muaythai, sambo, wrestling, and wushu, each of which has been held as a FISU World University Championship in the past, but will now come together at one, large sport festival. Competition will take place over ten days from 29 September to 8 October with as many as three sports going per day of competition. This will immediately become one of FISU’s biggest events in terms of athlete participation with over 1,000 athletes expected to compete. Much like Lake Placid, this will kick off a busy hosting period for Ekaterinburg as they will welcome the 2023 FISU Games Summer next August.

New Sports on Calendar

The 2022 FISU World Cup Combat Sports is a new initiative, but it is not the only new event as the 2022 FISU World Cup Finswimming, to be held in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy, and the 2022 FISU World Cup Powerlifting in Moscow, Russia will join the schedule for the first time. Finswimming was first recognised by FISU in 2017 and joined the World Cup roster in 2020, while FISU recognised powerlifting in 2019.

University World Cup Athlete Selection

Kazan, Russia will host the 2022 FISU World Cup Rugby Sevens.As the FISU World University Cup events feature athletes representing their universities, there are different ways in which teams and athletes are selected. For FISU World Cups in Rugby Sevens, Football, and 3×3 Basketball, continental qualifying events are held, and in 2022 these will be held as normal for Football and 3×3 Basketball. However, for Rugby Sevens only Africa will be represented by universities from a qualifying tournament, with remaining teams selected in collaboration between the host country of Russia, Continental University Sports Federations (CUSF) and National University Sport Federations (NUSF). The African qualifying event was held in October of 2021 with the University of Johannesburg winning the men’s spot and the University of Pretoria the women’s. The remaining six FISU World Cups in 2022 without qualifying tournaments (Finswimming, Floorball, Handball, Powerlifting, Combat Sports, Cheerleading) will see teams and athletes to register directly to participate under the supervision of NUSFs.

Portugal, Austria, Italy Play Host

Also expected to make a splash on the 2022 FISU sport calendar are the Championships in Futsal, Sport Climbing, and Golf. This will be the 17th edition ofFISU World Championship Sport Climbing will use the same venue as the International Federation of Sport Climbing World Championship. the FISU Championship Futsal, and will take place in Braga-Guimaraes, Portugal 18-24 July, after originally being scheduled for Shanghai, China. It is often one of the largest events with 335 athletes having competed in 2018 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The FISU Championship Sport Climbing in Innsbruck, Austria, 14-17 June, is led by a very experienced organising committee and will be held at one of the world’s best venues a week after the International Federation of Sport Climbing World Championship is held there. Later in the summer, Torino will host the 2022 FISU Championship Golf at the Royal Park Roveri in La Mandria 20-23 July. This tournament will be held as part of the lead up to the city hosting the 2025 FISU World University Games Winter.

It may be busy, but it will be a very exciting year on the FISU programme, with student-athletes back competing and coming together on the world stage. With many different sports and disciplines on the 2022 calendar, and with events happening across many countries, it looks to be a great year for FISU and for the continued growth and development of world university sport.

WRITTEN BY DOUG MCLEAN