The 2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival was held in Vuokatti, Finland, between 20 and 25 March 2022. The festival was postponed from original dates in February to December 2021. Later it was announced that the games will be moved to 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vuokatti previously hosted 2001 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival.
Opening ceremony The Opening Ceremony was held outside Vuokatti Areena. The Flame of Peace was carried to the stage by former biathlete Kaisa Mäkäräinen and former cross-country skier Matti Heikkinen. It was finally lit by young cross country skier Vilma Nissinen.
President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö gave the opening speech and declared the event opened. Also President of the European Olympic Committees Spyros Capralos and Mayor of Sotkamo Mika Kilpeläinen delivered speeches. The participating countries entered the ceremony in the flag parade. The dance group Kajaani Dance held a performance with the official song of the festival, "Long in to the Night".
Sports The following competitions took place 2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival Sports Programme
Venues Venue Location Sports Vuokatti slopes Vuokatti Alpine skiing, Snowboarding Vuokatti Sport Biathlon Stadium Vuokatti Biathlon, Cross country skiing Vuokatti Arena Vuokatti Figure skating, Short track speed skating Kajaanin jäähalli Kajaani Ice hockey Lahti Sports Center Lahti Nordic combined, Ski jumping
Schedule The competition schedule for the 2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival is as follows:
OC Opening ceremony 1 Event finals CC Closing ceremony ● Event competitions March 20 Sun 21 Mon 22 Tue 23 Wed 24 Thu 25 Fri Events Ceremonies OC CC Alpine skiing
| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2 | bgcolor=#3399ff | ● | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1 | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2 | 5 Biathlon
| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2
| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2 | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1 | 5 Cross-country skiing
| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2 | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2
| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2 | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1 | 7 Figure skating
| bgcolor=#3399ff | ● | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2
| 2 Ice hockey
| bgcolor=#3399ff | ● | bgcolor=#3399ff | ● | bgcolor=#3399ff | ● | bgcolor=#3399ff | ● | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1 | 2 Nordic combined
| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1 | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1
| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1 | 3 Short track speed skating
| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2 | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2
| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 3 | 7 Ski jumping
| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1 | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2 | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1 | 4 Snowboarding
| bgcolor=#3399ff | ● | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2 | bgcolor=#3399ff | ● | bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2 | 4 Total events
| 4 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 12 | rowspan=2 | 39 Cumulative total
| 5 | 14 | 18 | 27 | 39 March 20 Sun 21 Mon 22 Tue 23 Wed 24 Thu 25 Fri Events Note Boys ice hockey was played between 12 and 17 December 2021.
Participant nations On 28 February 2022, the IOC further called for Russian and Belarusian athletes not to be allowed to participate due to Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 2 March 2022, however, in accordance with a recommendation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), EOC suspended the participation of Belarus and Russia from 2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival. However, this action was not yet in effect as of December 2021, when the ice hockey tournament was played.Consequently, both countries won medals in that tournament.
Participating National Olympic Committees (48) Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Belarus * Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia (19) Finland France Georgia Germany Great Britain Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania (15) Luxembourg Moldova Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia * Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine
* Only in boys' ice hockey tournament
Medal table
References