2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival

The 2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival was held in Vuokatti, Finland,^[2] between 20 and 25 March 2022.^[3] The festival was postponed from original dates in February to December 2021.^[4] Later it was announced that the games will be moved to 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5] Vuokatti previously hosted 2001 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival.

2022 European Youth Winter Olympic Festival

Host city	Vuokatti, Finland
Country	Finland
Nations	46
Sport	9
Events	39
Opening	March 20, 2022 (2022-03-20)
Closing	March 25, 2022 (2022-03-25)
Opened by	Sauli Niinistö
Athlete's Oath	Arttu Juusola
Torch lighter	Vilma Nissinen
Main venue	Vuokatti Arena[1]
Website	eyof2022.fi
Summer
← Baku 2019 Banská Bystrica 2022 →
Winter
← Sarajevo-East Sarajevo 2019 Friuli-Venezia Giulia 2023 →

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^[6]

2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival Sports Programme
Alpine skiing (5) (details)  Biathlon (5) (details)  Cross-country skiing (7) (details)  Figure skating (2) (details)  Ice hockey (2) (details)  Nordic combined (3) (details)  Short track speed skating (7) (details)  Ski jumping (4) (details)  Snowboarding (4) (details)

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			2	●	1	2	5
Biathlon			2		2	1	5
Cross-country skiing		2	2		2	1	7
Figure skating				●	2		2
Ice hockey		●	●	●	●	1	2[I]
Nordic combined			1	1		1	3
Short track speed skating		2	2			3	7
Ski jumping				1	2	1	4
Snowboarding			●	2	●	2	4
Total events		4	9	4	9	12	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.^[7] 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.^[8] Russia and Belarus however participated in boys' ice hockey tournament held in December 2021 and both won medals in it.

Participating National Olympic Committees (48)

Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Belarus * Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia (19)[9] Finland France Georgia Germany Great Britain Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania (15)[10] 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

  *   Host nation (Finland)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Finland*	6	4	4	14
2	Italy	5	8	7	20
3	Austria	5	3	2	10
4	Sweden	4	5	4	13
5	France	4	1	6	11
6	Netherlands	4	0	2	6
7	Czech Republic	3	4	0	7
8	Slovenia	3	1	1	5
9	Hungary	1	4	0	5
10	Norway	1	2	0	3
11	Croatia	1	0	0	1
	Estonia	1	0	0	1
	Latvia	1	0	0	1
14	Poland	0	3	2	5
15	Switzerland	0	2	5	7
16	Germany	0	1	3	4
17	Belarus	0	1	0	1
18	Slovakia	0	0	2	2
19	Russia	0	0	1	1
Totals (19 entries)		39	39	39	117

References

1. "The Opening Ceremony on Sunday 20th of March at 20.00 in Vuokatti Arena". eyof2022.fi. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
2. "Finland and Slovakia awarded 2021 European Youth Olympic Festivals". Duncan Mackay. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
3. "Official Eoyf page". 21 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
4. "Vuokatti European Youth Olympic Festival postponed to December 2021". EYOF 2021. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
5. "Winter European Youth Olympic Festival pushed back to March 2022". Liam Morgan. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
6. Official website
7. "IOC EB recommends no participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials". International Olympic Committee (Press release). 2022-02-28. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
8. "RUSSIA/BELARUS ATHLETES AND OFFICIALS WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN EYOF VUOKATTI 2022". European Olympic Committee (Press release). 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
9. "Eesti osaleb talvisel Euroopa noorte olümpiafestivalil 19-liikmelise koondisega". ERR. March 19, 2022.
10. "Europos jaunimo žiemos olimpiniame festivalyje – 15 Lietuvos atstovų". March 17, 2022.