After a first exciting day of competitions, yesterday evening the Athletes’ Village was abuzz with excitement for the award of the very first medals of the 13^th Edition of the winter EYOF. And the excitement was particularly high in the Russian team, who took the lion’s share of podiums, but also in the Turkish team as one of their athletes had won a medal for the very first time at a winter EYOF.

The young athletes gathered in the Medal Plaza welcomed EOC Secretary General Raffaele, and Executive Committee members Hasan Arat (TUR), Alexander Kozlovsky (RUS), and Niels Nygaard (DEN), who awarded medals to the first heroes of Erzurum 2017 (full results available on Erzurum 2017 website).

Before going to the medal plaza, Pagnozzi and Arat visited the Village, commenting on the very high standard of accommodation and food. Speaking to his colleagues, the EOC Secretary General said: “in my opinion, the standard of this Village is worthy of a winter Olympics and the athletes’ restaurant is among the best I have ever seen, both for quality and variety of food. I am deeply impressed with how our Turkish friends have been able to put everything in place to such high standards in such a short time.”

Earlier in the day, Pagnozzi and Arat spent time on the slopes to watch perfectly organised Snowboard competitions, which took place in ideal conditions, including bright sunshine, at the technically impeccable snowboard facilities.