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Fans can see the champions of the future on the ice of the Főnix Arena between February 25 and March 1, 2025. Debrecen will host the ISU World Junior Figure Skating and Ice Dance Championships. Hungary will be interested in three events with women’s, men’s and pair figure skaters taking to the ice. The organisers draw the attention of spectators coming to the competition to dress warmly, as it will be cold in the stands. A press conference and tour were held in connection with the event on January 20, 2025 in the Főnix Arena.
After 1991, 1995 and 2016, Debrecen will host the Junior World Figure Skating and Ice Dance Championships for the fourth time. The event is the fifth such ice event and the fiftieth international sports world competition in the city.
The preparations for the competition, which will feature 180 athletes, are progressing well, and the organisers are paying maximum attention to the special design and maintenance needs of the ice.
“First, we will start cooling the building, and then, when the rink has cooled down, the fattening of the ice will begin. We are currently around 4 centimeters, and as I heard from the experts, we will continue the appropriate preparations and on Sunday we will use the rink at a test rate,” the managing director of the Debrecen Sports Centre” András Becsky said.
“The champions of the future meet here”, this is the motto of the event, as the world competitions held in Debrecen in the junior age group have always produced winners who later won European and world championship titles. 40 nations will be represented at the event.
“The competitions will take place from February 26 to March 1 in four sections. The competitors will take to the ice in women’s and men’s single figure skating, pair figure skating and ice dancing,” Executive Director of the Hungarian National Figure Skating Association, Orsolya Váradi said.
Deputy Mayor Diána Széles highlighted that an event like this helps to bring the love of sport to more children. Debrecen welcomes sporting events that enhance the city’s reputation.
“This event alone will bring 3,500 guest nights to our city, which is very important, as not only Hungary but also Debrecen had a fantastic tourism year last year. This was particularly helped by the fact that we organised major international sporting events,” Deputy Mayor Diána Széles emphasised.
The pair of József Mózes Berei, “Pepe” and Lily Wilberforce will represent Hungary in figure skating. In the women’s event, we can cheer on DSI Debrecen competitor Polina Dzumanyijazova, and in the men’s event, Aleksei Vlasenko will represent our country.
President of the Hungarian National Skating Federation, Lajos Kósa said that competitors are coming from all over the world, and the Főnix Arena is ready to host an unforgettable competition again.
ISU, the international federation, has a lot of members, but where the field is strong enough to be able to run a World Championship level of participation, it’s about 35-40 countries at a stable level. We are in that group, and that is very good,” Lajos Kósa pointed out.
During the press event, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Government Service Center Nonprofit Ltd., which implements the Care Watch programme (in Hungarian Gondosóra), and the skating federation. As a result, during the competition, the Care Watch sector will provide interesting facts and information to those interested.
Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu
