Toronto, ON- FISU, the international governing body of university sport and the Lucerne 2021 organizing committee have announced that the 2021 FISU Winter Universiade has been rescheduled to Dec. 11-21, 2021.

The games were initially scheduled for January but were postponed in August due to rising COVID-19 cases in Switzerland and international travel restrictions. The 30th edition of the winter competition has been a long-awaited dream for Lucerne and the organizing committee. After consulting with member associations and FISU, rescheduling the games was possible. 

“We worked closely with our national member federations as well as the six International Federations governing the sports of the Winter Games. December 2021 had emerged as the strongest possibility for rescheduling the Games,” said FISU Secretary-General and CEO Eric Saintrond in a press release.

The decision to reschedule the games has been endorsed by Jürg Stahl, the Swiss Olympic Federation president, who spoke about the importance of sport and competition even amidst a pandemic. 

The decision to hold the games in December comes less than 24-hours after multiple ski racing associations pulled their athletes out of Switzerland due to the nation’s COVID-19 situation. While the postponed games are in over a year away, there is no certainty whether international travel and competition will be at a significant enough level. 

While the games may go ahead, there is no certainty about whether U SPORTS and the Canadian delegation will send a team. 

Cover Photo: FISU/U SPORTS