With anticipation building having reached one-year-to-go until the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, approximately 2,000 of Europe’s most talented young athletes will compete at the Winter European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Bakuriani, Georgia.
Running from February 9 to 16, the Winter EYOF is the European Olympic Committees’ (EOC) multi-sport event dedicated to athletes aged 14 to 18, providing them valuable competition experience. It also offers an opportunity for these young athletes to embrace the Olympic Values through their time spent at the Athletes’ Village and a diverse range of engaging activities provided by the 8th edition of the European Youth Olympic Ambassadors programme.
Competition will be held in Alpine skiing, biathlon, freestyle skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, short track speed skating, cross-country skiing and snowboard – eight disciplines which will also feature prominently at Milano Cortina 2026 in 12 months’ time.
Preliminary ice hockey matches began on 6 February, and the Opening Ceremony will be held at the Kids Ski Arena in Bakuriani on 9 February.
While Bakuriani will serve as the heart of the EYOF, skating events will be held at the newly-developed Batumi Ice Arena in the Black Sea coastal city of Batumi and ice hockey matches in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.
Bakuriani 2025 is the 17th edition of the Winter EYOF, and will serve as vital preparation for young athletes hoping to make their Olympic Winter Games debuts at Milano Cortina 2026.
It will also showcase Georgia’s outstanding natural beauty and thriving reputation as a winter sport destination, and build on its experience of hosting a successful Summer EYOF in Tbilisi in 2015.
EOC President Spyros Capralos looked ahead to Bakuriani 2025.
“We are proud that the EYOF continues to provide opportunities for Europe’s young athletes with first experiences of a multi-sport event and the beauty of Olympism,” President Capralos said.
“The 17th Winter EYOF comes at a particularly opportune moment as we mark one year until the Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina, cementing Europe’s position at the heart of global sport.
“The EOC is grateful for the efforts of the Bakuriani 2025 Organising Committee led by President Mamuka Khabareli and the Georgian National Olympic Committee led by President Leri Khabelov, and we are looking forward to another spectacular Winter EYOF which allows our continent’s young athletes to shine.”
