The EYOF2023, the European Youth Olympic Festival, got underway today in the long week that encompasses the entire Friuli Venezia Giulia region, with the delegations of the various national teams taking part in this eagerly awaited international sporting event.
Today was all about the short course ice oval at the Pala ‘Vuerich’ in Pontebba, where in the morning both the girls and the boys competed in the qualifying heats for the final over the 1500-metre distance. In the girls’ event, Anna Mazur (2:36.380) held the Polish flag high and won the final ahead of her teammate Kornelia Kozniak and Hungary’s Doria Szigeti. For the Azzurri, Chiara Rodondi came sixth.
Among the boys, the gold medal went to Hungary with Dominik Major (2:22.573). Silver to Norway’s Miika Johan Klevstuen and bronze to Poland’s Dominik Palenceusz.
The first heats of the mixed relay over the 2000-metre distance also took place this afternoon, while medals will be awarded tomorrow for the individual girls’ and boys’ 500-metre sprint distances.
Also in the afternoon, the men’s hockey debut will take place at the Palazzetto in Pavilion 6 of the Torreano di Martignacco (Udine) fair, with the first two group matches between Finland and the German team and the match between Switzerland and Latvia. Also at the fair, in Pavilion 5, the ‘Sports Village’ was inaugurated, with around a dozen sports federations that have joined it, including ANSMES, ANAOAI, PANATHLON International and UNVS. The pavilion will be open to the public until 27 January from 14:30 to 22:30. Returning to hockey, the women’s teams were also on the pitch at the Eis Sport Arena in Spittal an der drau in Austria.
From tomorrow, the young athletes in many other disciplines will be in action, where medals will be awarded for freestyle skiing – slopestyle big air (male and female) and freestyle snowboarding big air (boys and girls): both finals will take place on Mount Zoncolan.
In Sappada, the first Nordic skiing competitions took place over the distances of 7.5 km (women) and 10 km (men) in classic technique. Also kicking off are the curling competitions at the Claut ice rink and the jumps in Planica (Slovenia) on the 102 hs trampoline, for the individual competition.
News, live streaming, gallery, results are available directly at www.eyof2023.it.
The European Youth Olympic Winter Festival 2023 in Friuli Venezia Giulia is supported by the Department of Sport of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.