LUCERNE — The city that will host the 2021 winter Universiade played host to the Swiss Students Sports Award 2018-2019 with a glittering ceremony. It was for the first time that the annual awards night was held in Lucerne, at the LUGA Fair – Central Switzerland’s ‘Experience Fair’.
Around 130 athletes as well as officials, supporters, guests and delegates from academic, political and sports backgrounds witnessed a beautiful show, presented and moderated by TV star Beat Antenen. Mike Kurt, President of Swiss University Sports underlined the importance of dual career for athletes, a process which still has to be further developed at Swiss Universities.
Daniel Studer, responsible for the EUSA (European University Sports Association) events in Swiss University Sports, presented an award to Lausanne University women’s volleyball team, winner of the 2018 European Universities Games in Coimbra, Portugal. An award was also presented to Thomas Heiniger and Florian Schmid, silver medallists in the badminton men’s doubles in Coimbra.
Among the 12 medal winners at different World University Championships in 2018, Marilen Matter Graf, Head of Elite sports, presented the Swiss Students Sports Award 2018 to Jonas Egger. Egger won two gold and one bronze medal at the WUC Orienteering in Finland last year.
Among the other awardees were medal winners came from floorball, beach volleyball, rowing and weightlifting. Finally, the Head of the Swiss delegation at the Winter Universiade 2019 in Krasnoyarsk, Christoph Böcklin, presented the final award of 2019 to Amélie Dupasquier, double silver medallist in Alpine Skiing at this year’s Winter Universiade.
The awards night was rounded off with music and dance performances, under the leadership of Karin Udvardi from Lucerne University Sports. The ceremony closed with Beat Antenen interviewing Urs Hunkeler, Managing Director of the Winter Universiade 2021, about the journey from Krasnoyark 2019 to Lucerne 2021.
The ceremony was a strong demonstration of the close link between Swiss University Sports and the Organising Committee of the Winter Universiade 2021 in Lucerne, Central Switzerland.