Yet another international, multi-sport event is coming to the United States in the 2020s: the World University Winter Games to Lake Placid, New York in 2023.
About 3,000 athletes from 60 countries will compete in 70 events in February 2023 in the 31st edition of the Winter Universiade. It’s the second time that the New York winter resort will host the event, previously in 1972.
In fact, both U.S. hosts of the University Games have been in the state of New York: the 1972 Winter Universiade and the 1993 University Games in Buffalo.
“The bid was one of the strongest we have seen,” said FISU President Oleg Matytsin (RUS) upon the signing of the Host City agreement. “For Lake Placid to go from Winter Universiade candidate to future host is a great moment for the international University Sports Movement. Today’s signing will have a lifelong impact on the thousands of student-athletes that will come to the Adirondack Region from all around the world.”
It’s yet one more major event to come to the U.S. in the next decade, including:
2021: World Games in Birmingham, Alabama
2021: IAAF World Championships in Eugene, Oregon
2023: Winter Universiade in Lake Placid, New York
2026: FIFA World Cup, in multiple cities
2028: Games of the XXXIV Olympiad in Los Angeles
2030: Perhaps the XXVI Olympic Winter Games to Salt Lake City?
Lake Placid is a good example of an Olympic host which got its legacy right; since 1980, the area has hosted 14 winter-sport World Championships and more than 100 World Cup competitions, including five in 2018.
It’s all part of the sports world’s “pivot to America” for the next decade.
