MINSK, 23 September (BelTA) – The winter edition of the 2021 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) has been postponed from February to December to safeguard all those involved in the event – in particular the young athletes – during the COVID-19 pandemic, BelTA learned from the press service of the National Olympic Committee of Belarus.
The new dates for the continent's leading multi-sport event for athletes aged 14-18 are 11-18 December.
“This was by no means an easy decision to take. For many months now we had hoped that the pandemic would improve enough to safely host Vuokatti 2021 on schedule. Sadly, it was not to be, but postponing the EYOF to December means that the vast majority of the athletes who were looking forward to competing in February will still be able to participate later in the year,” said EOC Acting President Niels Nygaard.
Some 1,800 athletes from 48 European National Olympic Committees are expected to take part in nine sports disciplines. On the sports program are alpine skiing, biathlon, ice hockey, snowboarding, cross country skiing, ski jumping, short track, figure skating and Nordic combined.
The European Youth Olympic Winter Festival is held once in two years. In 2019, at the competitions in Sarajevo and Istocno Sarajevo the Belarusian team won one silver (ice hockey) and two bronze (figure skating and short track) medals.
