Curtain up for the second round: The Junior World Championships begin on Thursday

From Thursday, February 21st to Sunday, February 24th, the Rittner Eisring will be the venue for the Junior World Championships for the second time since 2002. While the international title fights will be ceremoniously opened on Thursday evening at 19 p.m. with the entry of the nations and a spectacular fire show, the actual races will begin on Friday, February 22nd from 11 a.m.

The boys have to run over the following five distances: 500 m, 3000 m, 1500 m, 5000 m and 1000 m. For the girls, however, competitions over 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m and 3000 m are on the program. At the end of the Junior World Championships, the team pursuit races will take place on Sunday.

Over the past two decades, Ritten has achieved the status of a speed skating stronghold with several major events: the ice ring has been the venue for the all-around European Championships for men and women twice, and World Cup races for women and men have been organized in Klobenstein several times. The Junior World Championships were also held on the South Tyrolean plateau in 2002. At that time only junior world championship titles were awarded in the all-around competition. World Cup medals for individual distances have only been available since the 2009 Junior World Championships in Zakopane, Poland.

128 athletes from 20 countries are registered for this year's title fights. The “Azzurri” are placing their hopes on Andrea Giovannini, who clinched the overall Junior World Cup victory with a clear win over 3000 m at the World Cup final last weekend. He also made a significant contribution to Italy's success in the team pursuit.

The Junior World Championships will take place without South Tyrolean participation As was the case in 2002, no South Tyroleans will take part in the Junior World Championships on the South Tyrolean plateau. In the past 20 years, only eight South Tyrolean speed skaters have competed in international championships in the junior class, namely Nicola Mayr, Daniela Niederstätter and Hannes Untermarzoner from Ritten, Elisa Rapisarda, Nicole Suriani and Gianmarco Bazzoni from Bolzano, as well as the siblings Jan and Yvonne Daldossi from Lana .

Of these eight athletes, only Jan Daldossi collected medals. At the 2009 Junior World Championships in Zakopane, Poland, after falling over 500 meters, he won gold in the 1000 meters and bronze in the 1500 meters. A year earlier, in Changchun, China, he and his teammates Daniele Berlanda and Marco Cignini were crowned junior runner-up world champions in team running.

Since the conversion to the extended curve radius of 26 m for the inner track and 30 m for the outer track, the Ritten ice oval is considered the fastest open-air ice rink in the world. So nothing stands in the way of a high-class Junior World Championship.

A top-class supporting program awaits the spectators There will also be an overwhelming atmosphere in the festival tent at the Rittner Eisring this weekend. It will be heated up on Friday with the DJs from “Top 6 of the Alps” with the best sound in South Tyrol. On Saturday, the band “Vollbluat” rounds off the supporting program. The festival in the tent begins at 20 p.m.

The competition program at the Arena Ritten Ring: Junior World Championships 2013 Thursday February 21nd 18.00:XNUMX p.m.: Starting order draw 19.00 p.m.: Opening Ceremony

Friday February 22th From 11.00 a.m.: 500 m women and men, 1500 m women, 3000 m men

Saturday, February 23 From 11.00 a.m.: 500 m men, 1000 women, 1500 men, 3000 m women, 5000 m men

Sunday February 24th From 11.00 a.m.: 500 m women, 1000 m men, team pursuit race, closing ceremony

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Curtain up for the second round: The Junior World Championships begin on Thursday

After the final of the Junior World Cup in Klobenstein came to a successful end last weekend, the second highlight of the season is on the program for the young speed skating talents this weekend at Ritten.

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