Excitement builds in Krasnoyarsk with one year to Winter Universiade 2019

As athletes arrive home from the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, many will be heading back to university and will already be looking forward to the next Winter Universiade: Krasnoyarsk 2019. Student-athletes from across the world will join them, all conscious that the first Winter Universiade to be held in Russia is now exactly one year away.

In Krasnoyarsk, the current winter sports season has provided a perfect opportunity to test years of careful preparations. On 4 March, the latest in a series of seven test events will see athletes compete in alpine skiing at the Funpark “Bobrovy Log”. Bobrovy Log has no fewer than nine alpine skiing courses approved by the International Ski Federation (FIS) and is home to the annual FIS Russian Skiing Cup, which will form the basis of the test event alongside the Russian Alpine Skiing Championship. As a long-standing centre of excellence for winter sports, Krasnoyarsk can call upon valuable experience in hosting international events.

The Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade venue for Alpine Skiing 

Other competition venues in Krasnoyarsk are equally impressive, and most already in operation. The Arena Sever, where short track speed skating will be held, is a great example. Opened in 2011, the venue seats 2,800 fans and is perfectly suited to the Winter Universiade. Meanwhile, a new dedicated athletes’ village has been built: the Perya complex, which will later provide the city of more than one million inhabitants with new residential apartments, in a sport-centred setting that encourages an active lifestyle. The engagement of Krasnoyarsk’s students and other residents to participate in sport and lead a healthy life is a key legacy aim of FISU.

During Krasnoyarsk 2019, student-athletes aged 17-25 will have the opportunity to compete in FISU’s core events programme: alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, ice hockey and short track speed skating and snowboard. Freestyle skiing and ski orienteering have been added to the programme by Krasnoyarsk, echoing the flexibility that also allows Olympic hosts to add to their sports programmes, and bandy will also be a demonstration sport.

Looking ahead, FISU President Oleg Matytsin said:

“With a year to go until Krasnoyarsk 2019, we are already looking forward to performances by the world’s best student-athletes in snowy Siberia. The updates we have received on the progress of preparations so far have filled me with confidence that next year’s Winter Universiade will provide wonderful conditions in which international student-athletes can really excel. Thanks to a well-considered legacy plan for both physical and social aspects, we are also confident that the athletes, the city of Krasnoyarsk and FISU will all emerge even stronger from the 2019 Winter Universiade”

 Krasnoyarsk is ready to welcome the world to #realwinter with a well-trained volunteer workforce