The 2021 Winter Universiade, officially the XXX Winter Universiade, and commonly known as Lucerne 2021, was a

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of interna ...

for student and youth athletes that was scheduled to take place from 11 to 21 December 2021 in Lucerne, Switzerland, with preliminary competition in some events beginning 6 December 2021. The Games were to be hosted at venues in cantons of

Central Switzerland Central Switzerland is the region of the Alpine Foothills geographically the heart and historically the origin of Switzerland, with the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Lucerne and Zug. Central Switzerland is one of the NUTS 2 Stat ...

, including Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden,

Schwyz The town of Schwyz (; french: Schwytz; it, Svitto) is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ' ...

, Uri, and Zug. Lucerene, which was the only city to bid for the Games, was named host In March 2016. On 29 November 2021, the Games were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and

Omicron variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...

Cancellation

The Games were originally scheduled to be held 21–31 January 2021, but were postponed indefinitely on 31 August 2020 due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. In November, new dates in December 2021 were announced. On 29 November 2021, only one week prior to the start of preliminary competition, it was announced that the 2021 Winter Universiade had been cancelled due to travel restrictions imposed by the Swiss government to prevent the spread of

. The Games will not be rescheduled. Due to the cancellation, the handover to Lake Placid was held at a ceremony at the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...

in January 2022, concurrent with the lighting of the flame for the

2021 Summer World University Games The 2021 Summer Universiade ( zh, 2021年夏季世界大学生运动会), the XXXI Summer World University Games, commonly known as the Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games, is a multi-sport event sanctioned by the International University Spor ...

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...

(which, in May 2022, were subsequently postponed to 2023).

Venues

The organisation of the event was a joint project of Central Switzerland's six cantons, the city of Lucerne, and the

Canton of Grisons The Grisons () or Graubünden,Names include: *german: (Kanton) Graubünden ; * Romansh: ** rm, label=Sursilvan, (Cantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Vallader, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Puter, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Surmiran, (Can ...

. The Games were to use existing infrastructure, with all sports facilities accessible by public transport.

Sports

The 2021 Winter Universiade was to consist of 60 events in 10 sports, the smallest programme of a winter Universiade since Tarvisio 2003. * * * * * * * * * * Out of the three slots given to the organizing committee to add "optional", discretionary events to the programme, the Lucerne organizing committee added only ski-orienteering. Freestyle skiing–a recurring optional event at the Winter Universiade, was promoted to the core Winter Universiade programme of "compulsory" sports beginning with these Games.

Schedule

Marketing

Emblem

The emblem was designed by Peter J. Wardis, consisting of six intersecting " U" letters that are arranged to form a snowflake, representing the six cantons hosting the Games (with Lucerne represented by a point at the centre of the emblem).

Mascot

Wuli, the Lucerne 2021 mascot was designed by Luisa Zürcher, an animation student at the Lucerne School of Art and Design, and was unveiled at a ceremony marking the one-year milestone before the Games. Zürcher's design was inspired by

yeti The Yeti ()"Yeti"
''

''Fasnacht'', the Carnival festival that has deep roots in the traditions of Central Switzerland. The name is a combination of the initials of "Winter Universiade" with the typical Swiss word ending "-li". It was chosen by the public in an online vote.

References

External links

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Universiade Winter Universiade Winter Winter sports competitions in Switzerland

Winter Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

Sport in Lucerne Winter Universaide, 2021 Winter Universaide, 2021 {{Universiade