Volunteers, without whom the 10th European Youth Olympic Winter Festival 2011 would not work, relaxed and livened up at the wonderful farewell party at Harcov on Thursday.
Czech hockey, which has been left empty-handed twice since its medal triumph at EYOWF 2005 in Monthey, hungered for the bronze. The front-runners were the Swiss, who since then had been winning medals, and on Wednesday in the semi-final even gave the Russians a hard time.
The penultimate day of the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival 2011 marked the end of all individual disciplines. Snowboard races finished with the mixed teams’ Parallel Giant Slalom. The Norwegians and Germans shone big time. Tonight’s hockey match decided about bronz winnner - Switzerland.
The Czech Snowboarding representative, Ester Ledecká. had the run of her life on the slope in Rejdice. She had won the gold medal in the parallel slalom at the EYOWF 2011, the second gold for local athletes! In the boys’ race, Luca Tresoldi from Italy took the gold.
The boys' slalom under the peak of Ještěd was dominated by the Norwegian, Henrik Kristoffersen, who won his second gold in Liberec, to go with his gold from the Giant Slalom on Tuesday. The two-round race for 101 athletes from 38 countries proved disastrous for many favourites. The young Norwegian did not falter, though, and clearly showed who was the best in Alpine disciplines.
The Nordic Combined Team competition was dominated by the Austrian duo, Paul Gerstgraser and Philipp Orter, whose victory was already decided on the completion of the jumping phase.