Winter Universiade 2021

**Winter Universiade 2017**

venue	Lucerne - Central Switzerland , Switzerland
Nations	50
Athletes	1600
decisions
sports	10
opening	January 21, 2021
Closing ceremony	January 31, 2021
Opened by
Stadion	Europaplatz
Website	winteruniversiade2021.ch

The 30th Winter Universiade will take place in Lucerne from January 21st to 31st, 2021 . The implementation is a joint project of the central Swiss cantons of Lucerne , Uri , Schwyz , Obwalden , Nidwalden and Zug as well as the city of Lucerne. The program consists of ten sports that take place at seven venues. Students between 17 and 25 from over 540 universities in 50 countries will take part in the competitions.

Venues

Existing infrastructures will be used for the Winter Universiade. All sports facilities are accessible by public transport.

venue	Sports facility	Sports)
Andermatt - Realp ( UR )	Realp Nordic Center	Cross-country skiing
Engelberg ( OW )	Sporting Park	Curling
Engelberg ( OW )	Joch Pass 2222	Snowboard , freestyle skiing
Lenzerheide / Lai ( GR )	Biathlon Arena Lenzerheide	Biathlon , ski orienteering
Lucerne	Regional ice center	Figure skating , short track
Stoos ( SZ )	Franz Heinzer slope / Maggiweid	Alpine skiing
Sursee ( LU )	Ice rink Sursee	ice Hockey
train	Bossard Arena	ice Hockey

sports

As part of the 30th Winter Universiade, competitions in ten different winter sports will take place. Students aged 17 to 25 are eligible to start. A total of around 1,600 students from over 540 universities in 50 different countries take part. The teams are selected by the respective national university sports association.

biathlon

Biathlon competitions have taken place 14 times as part of the Winter Universiades, the first time in 1983 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The World Cup-compatible biathlon arena on Lenzerheide with the fully automatic shooting range with 30 shooting ranges, which was built between 2013 and 2017, persuaded the organizing committee to opt for a venue outside central Switzerland in the interests of sustainability. In January 2020, the IBU Youth and Junior World Championships will be held on Lenzerheide.

Disciplines	Men	Women
	Single 15 km	Individual 12.5 km
	Sprint 10 km	Sprint 7.5 km
	Pursuit 12.5 km	Pursuit 10 km
	Mass start 15 km	Mass start 12.5 km
	Mixed relay (2 × 7.5 km + 2 × 6 km)

ice Hockey

Ice hockey has also been part of the Winter Universiade program since the second edition of the Winter Universiade in 1962 in Villars in the canton of Vaud. The best Swiss result - fourth place - came from the very first staging of the ice hockey tournament in 1962. At that time, however, only four men's teams took part. Switzerland never provided a women's team - until 2019 in Krasnoyarsk. With the nomination of two hockey teams (women and men) for the 29th Winter Universiade in Russia, Swiss University Sports ensured a premiere - not least with regard to the home Universiade.

The Sursee ice rink and the Bossard Arena in Zug are the meeting places during the Universiade when twelve men's and eight women's teams fight for the title. The men's qualification matches as well as the men's and women's semi-finals and finals take place in Zug. In Sursee the women contest their qualifications and the placement games.

discipline	Men	Women
Number of teams	12 teams	8 teams

Freestyle skiing

Freestyle skiing is a comparatively young sport at Winter Universiades. In 2005, medals in freestyle skiing disciplines were awarded for the first time in Innsbruck, Austria. Since then, the sport has grown in popularity.

In the meantime, the international university sports association FISU has decided to include freestyle skiing in the mandatory program of winter universities. This will be the case for the first time at the 30th Winter Universiade in Central Switzerland. The competitions are held on the Jochpass 2222 in the Engelberg-Titlis ski area.

Disciplines	Men	Women
	Ski cross	Ski cross
	Slopestyle	Slopestyle
	Big Air	Big Air

Snowboard

In 1995, in Jaca, Spain, the history of snowboarding began at Universiaden. In Spain, still a demonstration sport, snowboarding has found itself in the permanent program. The two Swiss snowboard Olympic champions in giant slalom, Patrizia Kummer and Daniela Meuli, and the 2018 Olympic champion, Nevin Galmarini, were already on the podium at the Universiade.

After the alpine disciplines of slalom and giant slalom were held first, the first freestyle discipline was added in 1999 with snowboard cross. Today there are also optional competitions in the halfpipe, slopestyle and big air. With the exception of the halfpipe competitions, medals are fought for in all disciplines in Central Switzerland. The Universiade snowboarders will compete like the freestyle skis in the Engelberg-Titlis ski area on the Jochpass 2222.

Disciplines	Men	Women
	Parallel giant slalom	Parallel giant slalom
	Parallel slalom	Parallel slalom
	Snowboard cross	Snowboard cross
	Slopestyle	Slopestyle
	Big Air	Big Air

Short track speed skating

Universiade gold has been fought for in this sport since 1985. While the medals for the men went to Canada and the women to America at the first edition, this sport is now in Asian hands. Leading countries are Korea, Japan and China.

Short Track Speed Skating Events are held over 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m and 3000/5000 m respectively and can take place in any ice hockey stadium that has international standard dimensions. Short track is still largely unknown in Switzerland. This discipline will be held in the host city of Lucerne.

Disciplines	Men	Women
	500m	500m
	1000m	1000m
	1500m	1500m
	5000m relay	5000m relay

Curling

The curling competitions at Universiaden are popular with spectators. The level of the competition is high with numerous players who are also at the forefront of World and European Championships and World Cups. The Swiss team is a candidate for a medal. Most recently in Krasnoyarsk in 2019 when the team around the later vice-world champion Yannick Schwaller from the Bern Schwaller team failed in the game for third place. So far, however, the Swiss have been denied a gold medal.

The Swiss discipline boss Pascal Hess would like to change this at the Winter Universiade Lucerne-Central Switzerland 2021. In 2011, the Zuger was involved in one of the two men's silver medals as a skip. The Swiss teams will fight against nine other women's or men's teams. The tournament takes place in the Sporting Park in Engelberg.

Disciplines	Men	Women
	competition	competition
	10 teams	10 teams

figure skating

At the Winter Universiade 2009 in Harbin, China, 42,000 people attracted a crowd to the figure skating competitions. Figure skating has been part of the Winter Universiade program since it was first held in Chamonix in 1960. The individual competitions for women and men as well as ice dancing are held at the Winter Universiade in Central Switzerland.

In the host city Lucerne in the regional ice center Lucerne, competitions in short track speed skating and figure skating will be held during the Winter Universiade. Both women and men will start in all disciplines.

Disciplines	Men	Women
	singles	singles
	Ice dancing

Cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing has been part of the program since the first Winter Universiade in 1960. The cross-country skiing tradition in university sports goes back even further. The sport was already part of the “International Winter Weeks” from 1951 to 1959. This was a forerunner of today's Universiades.

The two-time Olympic and World Champion from Poland Justyna Kowalczyk were at the start of the Winter Universiades. Former Swiss top cross-country skier Bettina Gruber was the last Swiss woman to run cross-country skiing on a successful Swiss relay. In addition to Raoul Volken and Toni Dinkel, the current Director of the Federal Office of Sport (BASPO), Matthias Remund, and Director of the Sports Office of the City of Zurich, Urs Schmidig.

Disciplines	Men	Women
	sprint	sprint
	Pursuit 10 km	Pursuit 5 km
	Single 10 km	Single 5 km
	Mass start 30 km	Mass start 15 km
	Relay 4 × 7.5 km	Relay 3 × 5 km
	Team Sprint Mixed

Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing competitions are a central element of Winter Universiades. A total of 40 nations took part in the Winter Universiade 2011 in Erzurum. The most successful skier of all time at Universiaden is Sandro Boner. The Swiss won five gold and two bronze medals at the Universiades in 2009 and 2015.

The Super-G, giant slalom, slalom, super-combination and a parallel team event are held in the Stoos. Around 150 athletes compete against each other.

Disciplines	Men	Women
	Super g	Super g
	Giant slalom	Giant slalom
	slalom	slalom
	Super combination	Super combination
	Parallel mixed team event

Ski orienteering

In the ski orienteering, a number of positions must be approached in a given order in the shortest possible time with a map, a compass and cross-country skis. The competitions take place on a specially prepared network of trails. The guards are always on one lane. The challenge lies in choosing the fastest route through the complex network of trails and in quickly reading maps and making decisions along the way.

The ski orienteering competitions are held parallel to the biathlon races on Lenzerheide. The venue has experience with international championships in ski orienteering: in 2015, the European championships for the elite and Masters World Championships took place in the Graubünden winter sports resort.

Disciplines	Men	Women
	sprint	sprint
	persecution	persecution
	Middle distance	Middle distance
	Sprint relay mixed

Organization (sponsorship, association, OK)

The interaction of three organizations is central to the implementation of the Winter Universiade: the international university sports association FISU , the Winter Universiade Lucerne-Central Switzerland 2021 association and Swiss University Sports . In March 2016 the FISU awarded the 30th edition of the Winter Universiade to Central Switzerland , with Lucerne as the host city. The six central Swiss cantons and the city of Lucerne founded a joint association for the purpose of implementation. Under the chairmanship of the Lucerne government councilor Guido Graf , one member of the government from each of the six cantons and a representative of the Lucerne city council lead the association strategically. An organizing committee under the direction of the managing director Urs Hunkeler reports to the board.

The organizing committee works closely with Swiss University Sports. The national university sports association is a member of the FISU and selects the Swiss athletes for the multisport event.

Colleges

In total, students from 540 universities from 50 nations will travel to Central Switzerland for the Winter Universiade. Education is a central element of the Winter Universiade program. During the event from January 25th to 27th, 2021, a scientific conference on the topic of "Challenges and opportunities of sport in modern society" will be held and Swiss students will be involved in the organization of the event.

Student work

Students at Swiss universities can actively contribute to the planning and organization with student work.

In addition to a feasibility study for a venue or a bachelor's thesis to maintain sponsor satisfaction, the Winter Universiade mascot was also designed by students. Four budding artists from the Lucerne School of Art and Design each created a character. A seven-member jury has chosen Luisa Zürcher's proposal as the mascot of the Winter Universiade 2021. The four students volunteered for the student project and worked on the project in their free time. In addition to numerous creative tasks, the students support the marketing department, particularly in the area of social media.

Scientific conference

At the Winter Universiade 2021 from January 25 to 27, 2021, a conference will be organized on the topic of “Chances and challenges of sport in modern society”. The focus is on the three sub-themes: dual careers, digitization and women in top-class sport. The conference takes place in the building of the University of Lucerne and is organized by the University of Lucerne, the University of Education Lucerne, Zug and Schwyz as well as the University of Applied Sciences Lucerne and Graubünden.

mascot

Wuli at the Lucerne Carnival

On the occasion of the “One-Year-To-Go” event, the Winter Universiade 2021 launched an event mascot. The mythical creature was designed by Luisa Zürcher, an animation student at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts . The artist was inspired by Yeti , the mountains of central Switzerland with their myths and the carnival that is rooted in central Switzerland .

As part of the Biathlon Junior World Championships on Lenzerheide, the mascot was christened Wuli on January 29, 2020 . The name combines the first letters of the English spelling "Winter Universiade" with the typically Swiss ending "-li". The name was determined through online voting on the social media channels of the Winter Universiade 2021. Godparents were the Head of Marketing & Sponsoring, Fabienne Meyerhans, and Hannes Parpan, President of the local organizing committee on Lenzerheide.