A SUCCESS FROM START TO FINISH

25 Feb

Author: Jamil Dost

The closing ceremony concludes this year’s FISU World University Championship in speedskating. After five days of exciting competition we drew a line on sunday. This championship saw everything from great sporting success to the creation of memories for life. With this article we summarize this week’s highlights.

A grand opening ceremony

We started off the championship with a grand ceremony on Wednsday. All 13 nations were cheered on as they marched towards the stage put up in the middle of the Town Square of Hamar. This act was followed by speeches, live music and an great atmosphere among the athletes.

The man in charge for this championship, Sofus Rasmussen, had some fond words to share after the ceremony. He stated that among the goals of this championship, was to show the international stage that Norwegian Student Sports Federation can contribute with high-quality events. He later elaborated.

“We have delivered well at many national events recently, and now it was time for a real challenge. The sport of speed skating in Norway is struggling a bit with recruitment and interest from young adults, so we are trying to generate some buzz around it as well.”

— Sofus Rasmussen

First day of competitions

Rasmussen also added that he was looking forward to seeing Norwegian athletes on the podium. Not only did we see some Norwegians with medals around their neck - we saw many of them! Already on the first day we got to experience a clean sweep of the top three places. This was done in the men’s 5000 meters.

In addition to the 5000 meters, Thursday also saw the start of the women’s 1000 meters, men’s 1000 meters and the women’s 3000 meters.

If you want to read more about Thursday, click HERE.

A more chill second day of competitions

Friday was in many terms a more chill day, as we only saw two competitions: both the men’s and women’s 1500 meters. Kasper Tveter from Norway reigned victorious among the men, whilst Natalia Jabzryk from Poland stood out among the women.

The second day of the competition did not only feature sporting events. We were also treated with a great visit from Rollsløkken school. A class of fourth graders took the trip to “Vikingskipet” and partook in a rebus puzzle. After this, they were seen having alot of fun with our mascot, Sonja.

If you want to read more about Friday, click HERE.

A special visit on the third day

The penultimate day of the championship saw “Vikingskipet” receive a pleasant visit from delegates and observers from the general assembly of the Norwegian Association of University Sports. The visitors clearly seemed to enjoy the exciting races of the day. As one could assume they especially enjoyed seeing the Norwegians athletes in action!

The president of the Norwegian Association of University Sports was among the visitors, and he was super impressed by the whole event.

“I am incredibly impressed by what we see unfolding here in Hamar this week. Vikingskipet remains the historic arena we envisioned, and quite simply put, everyone involved is a sight to be proud of. As our international federation says time and time again, it’s a joy to see how all the volunteers and the organizing committee work together in a way that fosters community.”

— Adrian Haugen

In addition to a nice visit, we also got treated with sporting activites of the highest level. After a chill friday, it got heated with a total of four competitions. Both the women and men’s 500 meters was the first point on the plan. Following these fastpaced races was the women and men’s team pursuit. The Norwegian team secured the gold medals in the women’s 500 meters, women’s team pursuit and in the men’s team pursuit, whilst Poland were the fastest in the men’s 500 meters.

If you want to read more about Saturday, click HERE.

A final day worth remembering!

On Sunday we kicked things off with the very first mixed competition, meaning we would see both men and women on the ice. Czech Republic won gold after the disqualification of Japan. After the mixed team relay, both the men and women’s mass start took place. Japan raced the quickest among the men, whilst Spain’s flag was raised for the second time today - only this time, it was because they came first in the men’s mass start.

If you want to read more about Sunday, click HERE.

This concluded the sporting events for this time in Hamar. Up next was the formal closing ceremony. It can be labeled as emotional, as all nations witnessed their flags being walked onto the grass, one final time. In addition to the Norwegian national anthem, and the anthem of FISU, we could to experience fine speeches from both Adrian Haugen, president of the Norwegian Association of University Sports and Verena Burk, the vice president of FISU.

With this we closed off the Hamar 2024 FISU World University Championship Speed Skating. As one adventure comes to an end, we can only look forward to the ones the future will bring us.