This year’s delegation for the Winter Games comprised of 63 GB Student athletes from universities up and down the country, competing in nine different sporting disciplines. Together, there were three medals won overall, making this year’s results the best ever seen in the competition since its inception 63 years ago. As well as being one of the largest delegations ever, the Winter Games also showcased the widest representation of GB universities to attend the competition. Following a similar landmark success at the European University Games 2022 just over six months ago, this competition’s athletes achieved the highest medal tally and weighting brought home from a University Games.
In a competition that saw many firsts and records broken, such as BT Group being the first ever international headline partner, a significant milestone witnessed this year was the inclusion of para-athletes in GB Students. An increase in the ranges and abilities of competitors is a tribute to the ever-increasing diversity within the world of university sports.
Taking a closer look at the medallists, Scott Johns from Manchester Metropolitan University became the first ever athlete from Great Britain to win a Ski Cross gold medal, making him the fourth GB Students gold medallist in the history of the Winter Games. Mirroring his success, the Men’s Curling team made up of James Craik, Mark Watt, Angus Bryce, Blair Haswell and Jack Carrick, beat the USA team to also take gold, becoming our second gold medallists. Finally, our third medal was won by Thea Fenwick from Staffordshire University who took bronze in a spectacular display in the Women’s Freeski Slopestyle.
Notably, all previous gold medallists from the University Games have gone on to achieve Olympic medal success, including Olympic silver medallist Shelly Rudman OLY winning gold at the 2005 University Games, while Amy Williams MBE OLY won silver. The streak continued in 2011; the Women’s Curling team won gold in the Erzurum University Games with members going on to win Olympic bronze in Sochi 2014. The Men’s Curling team saw similar success in the 2017 Games held in Almaty where they won gold with members going on to represent Team GB at Beijing 2022, winning Olympic silver.
International Performance Manager, Marc Forrest shared his delight: “This has been a historic Winter World University Games for GB Students and BUCS. It is testament to our immensely talented and committed delegation made up of highly impressive human beings including athletes and athlete support personnel alongside the collective efforts of all their associated support networks, universities and sport specific national governing bodies. To deliver the most successful EUSA European Universities Games and FISU Winter World University Games in the history of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland within just over six months is an incredible achievement and endorsement of the international university programme.”
The prestigious international competition, the second largest winter multi-sport Games to the Winter Olympic Games, is held bi-annually with the next FISU Winter World University Games due to take place at Torino 2025 in Italy from 13-23 January 2025.
View all of the images from the Games here: BUCS’s albums | Flickr
