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Russian national team wins half of medals on the first medal day of the Universiade

Russian athletes won four gold, five silver and three bronze medals

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

KRASNOYARSK, March 3. /TASS/. The Russian national team ranks first in the team event after the first medal day of the winter 2019 Universiade in Krasnoyarsk.

Sunday had eight sets of awards, and Russian athletes won four gold, five silver and three bronze medals. Skiers Alisa Zhambalova and Ivan Yakimushkin, freestyle skier Maxim Burov and snowboarder Christina Paul won gold. Skiers Ekaterina Smirnova and Anton Timashov, freestyle skier Lyubov Nikitina, snowboarders Alexandra Parshina and Daniil Dilman won silver medals, bronze awards were awarded to skiers Yana Kirpichenko and Ivan Kirillov, freestyle skier Ruslan Katmanov.

The Swiss team is in the second place in the medal standings with one gold, one silver and one bronze medals, while the Canadian team is third (1-0-1). Thus, Russian athletes won half of all medals on Sunday (12 of 24).

On March 3, the Russian women's national bandy team beat Sweden with a 4:2 score, the Russian men's curling team beat the Chinese team (8:4), and the Russian women's curling team won against the Japanese (8:4) and British (6:4). The Russian men's national hockey team defeated the Japanese team (10:1), while the women's national team beat the Chinese (13:0).

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that he the 2019 Winter Universiade, which kicked off in the Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on Saturday, will beat the record for the large-scale participation.

2019 Winter Universiade

The Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, which has a population of over one million, was elected to host the 2019 Winter Universiade at the session of the FISU Executive Committee in Brussels in 2013. The event is scheduled for March 2-12, 2019.

The Winter Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival which is staged every two years in a different city. The name of the international sports event is a combination of two words, which are ‘University’ and ‘Olympiad.’

It is only second to the Olympic Games. The program of the Winter Universiade currently includes 6 compulsory sports (8 compulsory disciplines) and up to 3 optional sports chosen by the host country.

The 2019 Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk offers 76 sets of medals in 11 sports competitions, which are Alpine Skiing, Curling, Biathlon, Figure Skating, Cross-Country Skiing, Ice Hockey, Snowboard, Short Track Speed Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Bandy and Ski Orienteering.

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