GRANADA – While the countdown for the start of the 2nd part of the 27th Winter Universiade continues, we can be confident that also the sport venues in Granada (ice) and Sierra Nevada (snow) will be buzzing with young talented student-athletes.
With 41 countries competing in seven different sports, the city with a population of over 230,000 is about to get a lot busier during the next twelve days.
Almost 2,000 athletes from around the world will be participating in the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada, Spain.
The host country, themselves, will have about 80 athletes competing in events such as alpine skiing and ice hockey. Other countries, such as Germany, are sending only 20 athletes to the Games.
But 20 seems like a big number compared to the one solo athlete representing New Zealand who will be competing in figure skating from 6 to 8 February.
The calibre of athletics at the 2015 Universiade will be impressive on its own while taking a quick look at some of the delegations’ early entry lists.
Take China for instance. The Chinese delegation brings their World Youth Champion short track speed skating 3,000m relay team with CHEN Guang, SUI Xin, XU Fu, HAN Yutong; the half pipe world champ CAI Xuetong (6th at the 2014 Olympics); 2013 WU figure skating champion SONG Na and Winter YOG figure skating champion JIN Yang. The men’s ice hockey team features some recent gold medallists from the U20 Div. 3 Worlds.
A sneak peak at France learns us that ‘Les Bleus’ will have their high hopes set on figure skaters Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres, 5th at the European Championship and 10th at the Sochi Olympics and Maé-Bérénice Meite, double French national champion, 5th at the European Championships and 10th in Sotchi as well.
The French alpine skiing team has some seasoned skiers of whom some are member of the National B Team like Joséphine Forni and Clara Direz. With Emma Bernard and Emilie Aurange, the French brought the former Youth world champion and runner-up to the Universiade as well as the 2011 European Champion and 2014 Olympic bronze medallist Chloé Trespeuch. Also Léo Vuagnoux, bronze at the 2014 Boardercross Worlds is to be considered as a strong contender.
The Swiss team is bringing their fair share of Olympians as well. Twenty-six-year-old Simona Meiler is a two time Olympian (2010 Vancouver Olympics, 2014 Sochi Olympics) and twenty-three-year-old Stefanie Müller also participated in snowboard cross at the Sochi Olympics.
On top of those two athletes, the Swiss delegation will be led by 2014 Olympics gold medallist Patrizia Kummer, a snowboarder who will be attending her third Winter Universiade.
The first event of the Games will be Men’s and Women’s Freestyle Skiing held on 3 February at 9: 30 a.m. at the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
And don’t miss Men’s ice hockey beginning on the same day in the Granada Sport Palace in the Granada capital city, beginning at 1:30 p.m.
The opening ceremonies of the Games is set to kick off on 4 February at 6:00 p.m.
C. Pierre, Press Officer & K. Wright, U-Media Reporter
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