Country sport leaders touring an indoor sports arena that will be used during the 29th Winter Universiade
KRASNOYARSK — With the Universiade Torch Relay underway and the touch of autumn chill in the air, country representatives from teams that will compete at Winter Universiade were in the upcoming host city to visit venues, check out accommodations and get an overall lay of the land for their teams. The big show takes place from 2-12 March 2019, with the Athletes’ Village opening on the 23 February.
The four-day Head of Delegation visit started Wednesday (10 October) and runs through Saturday. 50 participants from 24 countries made the trip to the heart of Siberia, seeing this visit as a vital part for their team’s successful Winter Universiade preparations. National University Sports Federations from the United States, Estonia, Great Britain, France, Japan and nearly two dozen other countries visited the Universiade Village and adjoining dormitory complex.
From these visits, delegates are already coming away feeling satisfied with the quality of services that the Universiade host city will provide, particularly in the areas of accommodation and catering, medical care, security and transportation.
The final two days of the visit focus on the competition and training sports venues. Delegates will visit a host of ice and ski venues, including the Pervomaisky Ice Arena, Yenisei Ice Stadium, Funpark Bobrovy Log All Season Sports and Entertainment Park, Platinum Arena Ice Arena and Crystal Ice Arena.
Ensuring the care of their athletes is a primary job and concern for the delegation members with Krasnoyarsk building new, world-class medical facilities in the lead-up to the Winter Universiade
Roger Roth, FISU International Technical Committee Chair, was in Krasnoyarsk just before the HOD meetings for an international Ice Hockey test event. Mr. Roth came away enthused about preparations in Krasnyarsk following the Student Hockey Challenge, “Today showed once again that everything was organized at a high level. I think the Organizing Committee of the upcoming Winter Universiade 2019 is following the right direction. I really liked your approach to the organization of the competition in whole. Most importantly, the atmosphere at the stadiums was very sporty and friendly. Indeed, there was a feeling that it was a great, interesting event.”
Holding such meetings prior the Universiade is a long-standing tradition of FISU. The previous visit of the university sports federations representatives took place in March this year. The next test for the Krasnoyarsk organisers is the ‘Cup of Russia’ Figure Skating competition, which will take place from the 16-20 October.
In addition to venue visits, school was in session for the HOD meetings as Krasnoyarsk and FISU officials provided in-depth information about the first major multi-sports event to ever take place in Siberia