Day 3 of the Winter European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) Vuokatti 2022 brought more success for hosts Finland, whilst a number of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) secured their first medals of the week.

One of the main highlights of Day 3 was the snowboard big air finals. In the girl’s event, with an enthusiastic crowd watching on, Hungary’s Beijing 2022 Olympian Emma Kozuback put on an exhilarating display to secure her country’s first gold of the week. Finland’s Telma Särkipaju was not far behind in second place, whilst the Netherlands’ Romy Van Vreden won bronze.

Dante Brcic of Croatia won his country’s first medal of the week in supreme style, narrowly securing the gold medal ahead of Czech Republic’s Jakub Hrones. In third place was Nicolas Schütz of Switzerland. The much-anticipated snowboard competitions resume on Day 4 of the EYOF with the slopestyle qualifications, followed by the finals in the discipline on Friday (March 25).

On a non-stop day of action on Day 3, the boy’s ski jumping events began with the HS100 category, which took place in the city of Lahti. The gold medal went the way of Austria’s Jonas Schuster, whilst Poland won their first medal of the week as an impressive Jan Habdas claimed second. Germany’s Ben Uwe Bayer rounded off the podium in third.

In the girl’s figure skating, the short programme saw Finland’s Olivia Lisko deliver a highly technical performance to sit in top spot going into tomorrow’s free programme. Lorine Schild from France is just 0.06 points behind Lisko, with the pair engaging in a neck and neck battle throughout the day. Israel will be targeting its first medal of the week, with Mariia Seniuk currently placed in third.

In the boy’s figure skating short programme competition, Estonia’s Arlet Levandi was in fine form throughout the day and took a deserved first place heading into Day 4. Edward Appleby of Great Britain is also well poised for a podium place, posting a score of 68.58 to sit less than 1.5 point behind Levandi and 0.5 points behind Italy’s second placed Raffaele Zich.

Athletes have passed the halfway mark in Vuokatti, but there is still plenty to look forward to. Day 4 features more action in the figure skating, ski jumping and snowboard big air, as well as the bronze medal match in girl’s ice hockey. As always, throughout the day the EOC channel will be showing the different competitions!