From January 13ht until the 22th, the very first Winter Youth Olympics were held in Innsbruck, Austria. Like their grown up colleagues, the young athletes (aged 14 to 18) performed in all major winter sports, from Alpine Skiing to Ice Hockey and Ski Jumping. Nearly 1100 sportsboys- and girls from over 70 nations made this version of the Olympics ground-breaking: not only were these the first Winter Youth Olympics, many sports were played in a new format. We have seen teams mixed by gender or age and sports with new rules or in a completely different format.

One of many amazing success stories that took place in Innsbruck, is that of Sanneke de Neeling, speed skater from The Netherlands. She won a gold medal in the women’s 3000 m event and a silver one in the 1500 m event. But moreover, Sanneke made her way into the history books as the first winner of the women’s ‘mass start’ event: one of the new disciplines we witnessed in Austria. She beat Su Ji Jang from Korea with just 0.07 seconds: that’s timing!

All in all, the Winter Youth Olympics have been a huge success. And who knows, we might see some of these youngsters at the grownup-Olympics in Sochi, 2014!

The winter Youth Olympics were timed by our Timing Partner: Swiss Timing

Check all the Olympic results here.