LAUSANNE, January 16. /TASS/. The team of Russian national athletes has maintained the top position in the overall medal standings after Day 7 of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Switzerland winning two bronze medals on Thursday.
Russian speed skater Pavel Taran won bronze in Mass Start. Japan’s Motonaga Arito and Colombia’s Diego Amaya won the gold and silver of the event respectively. This was a second medal of Taran at the 2020 Youth Olympics after he won silver on Monday in men’s 1,500-meter distance.
Another bronze was packed on Thursday by the team of Russian curlers, who defeated New Zealand in the match for the third place.
Russian athletes top the overall standings of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics with 17 medals (five gold, eight silver and four bronze). Russia is followed by hosts Switzerland (five gold, five silver and three bronze) and Japan (four gold, two silver, one bronze) in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.
The 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games are hosted by Switzerland’s Lausanne on January 9-22 and are attended by almost 1,900 athletes of age between 14 and 18 representing 79 countries.
A total of 81 sets of medals in 16 disciplines are up for grabs in Switzerland this month and they are contested in such competitions as: Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Short Track Speed Skating, Skeleton, Ski Jumping, Ski Mountaineering, Snowboarding, Speed Skating.
The Youth Olympics are organized every four years, with the Summer Games held since 2010, and the Winter Games - since 2012. The Youth Olympics were preceded by the World Youth Games held under the IOC auspices since 1998. The first World Youth Games were hosted by the Russian capital of Moscow in 1998.