Student Sport Ireland (SSI), in conjunction with the Snowsports Association of Ireland, is pleased to announce the Irish team to compete at the 32nd FISU Winter University Games being held in Torino Italy.
3 student athletes, Elle Murphy, Ethan Bouchard, and Aidan Olsson will all be competing in various Alpine disciplines; Elle and Ethan in the Slalom, the Giant Slalom, and the Super-G, and Aidan in the Slalom and the Giant Slalom.
Elle is a student at the University of Nevada studying Marketing, Ethan is a first-year student at Trinity College Dublin studying Global Business, while Aidan is a Neuroscience sophomore student at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The Torino Winter Games will be Elle Murphy’s second consecutive FISU Winter Games having previously competed at the 2023 Games held in Lake Placid, New York state. Elle has also competed at the European Olympic Games (2019), and at 3 consecutive World Junior Ski Championships from 2018 to 2020.
Ethan Bouchard competed in the 2023 European Youth Olympics festival with both Ethan and Aidan having competed at the 2024 World Junior Alpine Championships.
Staged every two years the FISU Winter Games return to their birthplace of Torino for the first time since 2007.
Six municipalities will host 11 sports over the course of 11 days of competition in Italy’s Piemonte region.
Alpine skiing, snowboarding, and freestyle will be in Bardonecchia, Pragelato will host cross-country skiing, biathlon, and the optional sport of ski orienteering, Pinerolo and Torre Pellice will welcome ice hockey, the other optional sport of ski mountaineering will be held in Sestriere, while competition in figure skating, short track speed skating, curling, and ice hockey will be held in Torino.
Historically for the FISU Winter Games parastudent-athletes will compete in both alpine and cross-country skiing events.
Further information, the competition schedule and results is available from the official competition web site FISU Torino University Winter Games while you can follow the progress of the Irish athletes on the Student Sport Ireland and Snowsports Association of Ireland social media platforms.
Alpine Skiing Disciplines Explained.
- The slalom is the more technical event in Alpine skiing with gates close to each other and has the shortest course and quickest turns in alpine skiing with skiers reaching speeds of 60-70 kph;
- Giant Slalom is the fastest technical skiing event contested over two heats on the same day over different courses with skiers reaching 80 kph;
- Super G stands for ‘super giant slalom’. The event combines downhill speed with technical turns with a less vertical drop. Each skier has one run on a single course with the fastest time winning.
