Today, Thursday 9 January will mark the start of a busy year of Olympic sport as the Winter Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020 will get underway with an Opening Ceremony at the newly renovated Vaudoise Arena.

Over the subsequent 13 days, over 1,800 athletes from 79 countries will battle it out for 81 gold medals available across 16 sports.

This is the third edition of the winter YOG, with the inaugural edition taking place in Innsbruck in 2012 and Lillehammer hosting the second edition. The Games will not only be staged in the Olympic Capital of Lausanne but will be spread across Switzerland, with competitions taking place in La Vallée de Joux and well-known ski resorts of Leysin, les Diablerets, Villars, Champéry and St. Moritz. Olympic fans in France can also get in on the action with competition also slated for Les Tuffes.

European NOC’s will be well represented with big delegations from Switzerland, Russia, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria and France, and for the first time at the Winter Youth Olympic Games, there will also be athletes from Albania, Azerbaijan and Kosovo.

After the success of the Winter European Youth Olympic Festival in Sarajevo and East Sarajevo last year, all eyes will be on the 25 medallists from those games who will compete in Lausanne, to see how they fare against their global peers.

Among others, Italian speed skating gold medallist Elisa Confortola, who was flagbearer of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) at Sarajevo and East Sarajevo 2019, will lead again the Italian squad during the parade tonight in Lausanne.  She also played an important role during the bid for the Winter Olympic Games Milano-Cortina 2026, making a passionate speech at the final presentation in Lausanne last June.

The Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games will take place from 9 to 22 January and feature athletes aged 15 to 18 years old.

You can follow all of the action from the Games on the Lausanne 2020 website here and on the Olympic Channel.