The 16th winter edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival, the sporting event dedicated to athletes aged 14 to 18, has concluded at the Fiera di Udine. It was a record-breaking edition for the Italia Team’s Azzurrini who accumulated 21 medals (6 golds, 8 silvers and 7 bronzes), ranking first among the 47 European Olympic Committees in terms of number of podiums and second in the medals table behind France, who only beat the Azzurri in the number of golds (7 to 6) won.

The Italian team – the most numerous with 109 athletes (comprising 56 males and 53 females) competing in all 12 disciplines – improved upon the previous record set in Vuokatti in 2022 (5 golds, 8 silvers and 7 bronzes), topping off an event that, 30 years after the first edition that took place in Valle d'Aosta in February 1993, was once again held in Italy. And beneath the gaze of the President of the European Olympic Committees, Spyros Capralos, and other dignitaries present, including the President of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fedriga, and the President of CONI Friuli Venezia Giulia, Giorgio Brandolin, Italia Team paraded with two of the week’s protagonists in competitions that were broadcast on ItaliaTeamTV: flag-bearers Ludovica Righi, gold in alpine skiing giant slalom, and Erik Canovi, gold in individual and sprint, and bronze in ski mountaineering mixed relay.

But it proved to be a celebration for all the young European athletes who have found in Tarvisio’s Casa Italia EYOF a place to meet and grow together. CONI’s hospitality house, which has undergone a revamp and is for the first time aimed at the youngest athletes, opened its doors to all the participating delegations, the Organising Committee and the European Olympic Committees, including the Ukrainian delegation, to whom the Fair Play award was presented during the closing ceremony.  

The European Olympic Committees flag now passes from the Friuli Venezia Giulia 2023 Organising Committee to the representatives of Borjomi and Bakuriani in Georgia, the nation set to host the forthcoming edition of the EYOF in two years' time. Italia Team will be looking to improve still further.

(Photo: Simone Ferraro)