FISU arrives in Ekaterinburg for inspection ahead of the 2023 FISU Games

FISU visited the Russian Federation ahead the Ekaterinburg 2023 FISU World University Games for just under two weeks from 12-24 September. On the programme for this inspection were venue visits and progress reports from various functional areas for the summer event.

A significant milestone for FISU, the visit to Ekaterinburg served as one of the first on-site since the global pandemic began for FISU. Although the FISU and the Organising Committee were in touch via virtual sessions and visits, this in-person visit strengthened the collaboration between FISU and the Organising Committee even further as the visit began.

Leading the visit with the Ekaterinburg 2023 FISU World University Games Organising Committee was FISU Secretary General/CEO, Eric Saintrond, along with the FISU Summer Games Deputy Director, Jing Zhao. Also onsite were FISU International Technical Committee (ITC) members and other FISU staff.

The inspection was divided into two parts—first the ITC visit followed by functional areas meetings about the various departments and their respective updates. After these sessions, FISU and the Organising Committee visited the sports venues such as the Athletics Stadium of the Kalininets Sports Centre, the Ekaterinburg Expo International Exhibition Centre and many more. The inspection also included a visit to the venue for the FISU World Conference, also held during the FISU Games.

“There is clearly a very passionate team with a lot of experience from events such as the FIFA World Cup 2018 and the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade,” said FISU Summer Games Deputy Director, Jing Zhao. “They are a very active Organising Committee with a strong plan going into the Games. There are still some points to work on, but we believe that the Organising Committee will use the feedback that we have given them and use it to improve even more like they always strive to do,” she concluded.

The Ekaterinburg 2023 FISU World University Games will be held from 8-19 August 2023. More information about these FISU Games can be found here.