Last week in Brussels, the International University Sports Federation (FISU) granted the organization of the 2015 Winter Universiade to the Spanish City of Granada and to the University of Granada. Spain already hosted the Winter Universiade twice - in Jaca (1981 & 1995) and will welcome the University Games back in 2015 when the legendary Sierra Nevada will be the main setting. ‘Granada and the Sierra Nevada are a well-known snow sports area', Eduardo Valenzuela, Bid Director said. ‘Thanks to the 27th Winter Universiade we will be able to start developing the ice sports as well. This will make the region a complete winter sport hotbed.'

The Alpine Skiing, Snowboard and Freestyle competitions will be held in the Sierra Nevada Ski Resort, while the Cross-Country Skiing and Biathlon competitions will take place in Puerto de la Ragua. The different skating disciplines will be carried out in Granada. The Universiade will promote the investments in the three competition areas and allow the establishment of a long-term calendar, which includes test competitions from next season onwards, when the Freestyle FIS World Cup will be held in Sierra Nevada. At the same time, a sport promotion program will be set in motion. It will be focused on two specific groups: the students and the training of the technical officials needed to carry out the competitions during the Universiade. This program is expected to lead to substantial support for the national ice and snow sports teams. For more information, visit: http://www.universiadagranada.com

FIS news
01/06/2009