There will be Georgian athletes among the nearly 1800 competitors showing up in Lausanne for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics starting on Thursday, with members of the team competing in four disciplines at the global event.
Over the next two weeks, 10 young Olympians from the country will represent their country among 79 nations in figure skating, ski jumping, alpine skiing and luge.
Five of those in the Georgian team will appear before sports fans following figure skating fixtures in individual, pair and dance sections.
Alina Urushadze is in the roster for individual events, with Luka Berulava and Alina Butaeva picked for pairs and Yulia Lebedeva-Bitadze and Mikhail Kaygorodtsev set to go on the rink in the dancing category.
The best pictures from the #Lausanne2020 #YouthOlympics torch???? relay this morning. pic.twitter.com/lOJ9gctZKB
— Lausanne 2020 ❄️ Winter Youth Olympic Games ???????????? (@lausanne2020) January 8, 2020
Two more competitors flying the Georgian flag will be seen facing the route and their opponents in alpine skiing. Nino Kurtanidze and Nodar Kozanashvili have been selected to showcase their skills at the Swiss-hosted tournament.
The two will be part of the competition in slalom, giant slalom, super-g and alpine combined, set to run between January 10-15.
Esmeralda Gobozova will also be stepping into her skis, however in a different discipline of ski jumping, with the 16-year-old appearing in women's individual fixtures.
Luka and Lasha Mtchedliani round off the Georgian selection for the Olympic event, with the men's singles entry for luge awaiting the two.
The Winter Youth Olympics will run between January 9-22, with the full calendar of fixtures available at the official website here.