When? February 12-21, 2016
Where? NORWAY
Medals won? 0

Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympic Games

Facts and figures

7 sports, 70 events, and 1100 athletes from 71 nations.

Most medals won (a total of 28 teams) by: 1. USA – 16 (10, 6, 0), 2. South Korea – 16 (10, 3, 3), 3. Russia – 24 (7, 8, 9).

Lithuania in the Games

During the Opening ceremony, Norway’s Princess Ingrid Alexandra lit the same cauldron that her father Crown Prince Haakon had lit during the 1994 Winter Olympics. Also, most of the competitions took place in the same arenas and tracks as in the 1994 Winter Olympics.

During the Opening ceremony the Lithuanian flag was carried by ice dancer Deividas Kizala.

In the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics Lithuania was represented by 10 athletes: 3 biathletes, 2 Alpine skiers, ice dance pair, 1 skier, 1 snowboarder, and 1 ice hockey player.

Figure skaters Guostė Damulevičiūtė and D. Kizala competed against 11 other pairs and were 9th in the final rankings.

Lithuanians also took part in mixed teams competitions. In one day the previously unfamiliar members of Team Motivation – the Lithuanian pair, champions of pairs skating event Jekaterina Borisova and Dmitry Sopot of Russia, Malaysian athlete Chew Kai Xiang and South Korean Byun Ji-hyun – became friends, observed and enthusiastically supported each other’s performances. The team was among leaders almost until the end of the competition, but the flawless performance of their last opponent from Latvia earned a lot of points to the team’s competitors, thus leaving Team Motivation in the 4th place.

The first-time participant of the Winter Youth Olympics ice hockey player Dinas Mukovozas performed really well. The athlete had to demonstrate his skill in 6 event of the Challenge tournament. Mukovozas’ strength is precision, however, it was agility competition that guaranteed the young athlete a place in the finals, where he amazed both the spectators and the TV sports commentators by his accurate hits that could not be matched by any of his competitors. Unfortunately, the athlete was not lucky or perhaps not experienced enough to win a medal, but even at 6th place the young Olympian could not hide his joy.

Also, Mukovozas was given the honor of carrying the Lithuanian national flag during the Closing ceremony of the Games.

Aras Arlauskas represented Lithuania in the new snowboarding event and competed against other snowboard cross participants. During the first qualification stage the athletes each had to cover the distance as fast as possible. The Lithuanian athlete managed to complete the first qualification stage, but did not reach the semifinals.

A. Arlauskas also competed in a mixed team called “No. 2” together with French athletes – two girls and one boy. In this team he managed to achieve better results and placed 7th.

Linas Banys achieved the best result among the three participating Lithuanian athletes and placed 13th in the 7.5 sprint event. In the two shooting bouts only one of his shots was a miss, while his competitors were much less lucky.

Alpine skier Andrejus Drukarovas placed 27th in the giant slalom event,  while Eglė Augustaitytė was 30th.

The participating skiers also competed in a new event of the Olympic Games – they had to complete an unusual Cross Free obstacle course. Lithuanian skier Rokas Vaitkus reached the semifinals, but did not manage to get into the finals. He was 23rd in the final rankings. 

Games website:

https://www.olympic.org/lillehammer-2016

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