FVG will be represented by Greta Pinzani, Martina Zanitzer, Noelia Vuerich and Martino Zambenedetti.
The Azzurrini who will represent Italy at the 16th winter edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival, the event dedicated to athletes aged between 14 and 18, which will take place in Friuli Venezia Giulia from 21 to 28 January, have been chosen.
Today, the National Council of the CONI decided the composition of the Italian team that will take part in the festival that will take place once again in Italy, 30 years after the first edition held in Valle d’Aosta in February 1993.
Italy, as the host nation, will compete in all 12 disciplines with a total of 109 Azzurrini (including 56 boys and 53 girls) who will compete against more than 1,200 athletes representing 47 nations. Representing the CONI at the opening ceremony scheduled for Saturday 21 January in Trieste’s Piazza Unità d’Italia, in the presence of CONI President Giovanni Malagò, will be Luca Libener and Giorgia Todesco. The former, a Nordic combined athlete, had already been called up for the previous edition in Finland, but was unable to compete due to injury. Giorgia, on the other hand, is a member of the hockey team and, born in 2009, the youngest member of the Azzurri team. Head of Delegation is Elisa Santoni, deputy heads of mission Pauline Mellet, Andrea Morgante and Federico Zaratti. Friuli Venezia Giulia will be represented by Greta Pinzani in Nordic combined; Martina Zanitzer, Noelia Vuerich and Martino Zambenedetti in ski jumping, all members of the Sci CAI Monte Lussari.
For the first time at an edition of the European Youth Festival, there will be freestyle – with slopestyle, big air and ski cross – and ski mountaineering, a discipline also linked to Italy, as it will debut at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina.
Casa Italia, the hospitality house organised by the CONI, will be present at the European Youth Olympic Festival as well. A revised concept aimed at young people for the first time to engage the athletes of the EYOF 2023 and open the doors to all participating delegations, the organising committee and the European Olympic Committees.
Tarvisio will be the setting for this innovative edition, which focuses strongly on its young target audience. This is where Casa Italia’s media factory meets new media and content creation, focusing on a strong component of user-generated content for young people by offering them community opportunities. Workshops and interactions with the EYOF young ambassadors will allow young people to experience one of the first high-level sporting events of their careers and be inspired to follow their own path guided by the fundamental principles of the Olympic Movement.