The waiting is over for Europe’s best young athletes as Maribor prepares to host the European Olympic Committees’ (EOC) Summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) between 23 and 29 July.

Nearly 2500 athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 will compete in Slovenia at the 17th summer edition of the Festival, taking part in 10 different sports across the six days of competition following the Opening Ceremony on Sunday evening at Maribor’s Ljudski Vrt Stadium.

It is the second time that Slovenia have hosted an EYOF after Bled was the venue for the 2003 Winter edition, but it is the first time that the summer event will take place in the country.

The EYOFs offer the next generation of European stars their first taste of major international multisport competition and many Olympic, World and European Champions have competed in them since the inaugural event in Belgium in 1991.

Ahead of the EYOF, EOC President Spyros Capralos said: “The importance of the European Youth Olympic Festivals was shown by the number of former participants we saw competing at the European Games in Krakow earlier this summer.

“The EYOF gives the next generation of European athletes the chance to compete internationally at a multi-sport event. For many of them, this will be the first time that they done this and provides them with vital experience ahead of what we hope are successful careers. I wish them all the best of luck ahead of their events.

“The Local Organising Committee have been professional and precise in their preparations for Maribor 2023 and I am sure that it will be an excellent event. Thank you to them for their hard work.”

There will be new additions to the sport programme in Maribor with 3×3 basketball, mountain biking and skateboarding all taking place for the first time, alongside artistic gymnastics, athletics, handball, judo, road cycling, swimming, tennis and volleyball.

Banská Bystrica in Slovakia hosted the previous edition in July 2022, delayed from the previous year, and Italy topped the medal table with 21 gold medals (47 medals in total), ahead of Germany (nine golds, 32 medals) and Spain (eight golds, 19 medals).

As well as the athletes competing, the European Youth Olympics Ambassador (EYOA) programme will run for the seventh time. Conceived by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Culture and Education Commission, the 23 chosen ambassadors will help spread messages of Olympism and Olympic values among athletes through different initiatives across the EYOF.