An Extreme Winter Sports Day without a Single Injury

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The Kant Sports Complex has hosted the 4^th annual Higher School of Economics Winter Sports Day, organised by the student Extreme Sports Club and the HSE Office of Public Relations.

This festival, now an established tradition of the university, brought together over 820 people, of whom 90 participated in downhill skiing and snowboarding competitions.

That’s not to say that the other participants were bored. A special so-called “paddling pool” was set aside for those learning alpine skiing and snowboarding for the first time, with experienced Extreme Sports Club instructors helping novices. In addition, everyone enjoyed a range of competitions, quizzes, and upbeat music by a professional DJ.

The festival was hosted by HSE student Maria Kuleshova and HSE MIEM graduate Grigorii Aksenov. According to them, there was a particularly passionate debate between the alpine skiing fandom and those who consider skis a relic of the past and favor the snowboard. The hosts, who organised this battle of words, smoothly guided the participants towards the idea of resolving “the eternal debate” through tug-of-war, rope jumping and various other contests. Both sides were keen to move from words to deeds, but in the end the ski fans and the snowboard fans turned out to be evenly matched. As for those who preferred to watch from the sidelines, they were able to join everyone else in getting snacks and hot tea at a special tent set up by the Kant Sports Complex.

Meanwhile, the downhill skiing and snowboarding took place on a specially prepared course. In the words of Tatiana Zakharova, Director of the HSE Centre for Creative Production and Cultural Programs, “There were a few falls, but fortunately the only injuries were to the contestants’ pride. The emergency medical services doctors standing by had nothing to do but take selfies in front of the slope as the racers descended it.”

Outside the competition, the HSE mascot, the learned crow, also went for a wild snowboard ride (as a snowboarder in a bird costume).

The winners of the downhill race were awarded prizes by the Higher School of Economics and the Extreme Sports Club, as well as by the event’s sponsors, the UNICREW team and the Kant Sports Complex.

	Name	Best time (sec)	Place
Alpine Skiing (men's)	Rivlin, Alexandr	15.57	1
	Bochkarev, Artyom	19.5	2
	Golyaev, Arkady	20.18	3
Alpine Skiing (women's)	Solometsova, Yulia	16.09	1
	Vyshnevaya, Maria	16.83	2
	Skubko, Anfisa	19.2	3
Snowboard (men's)	Shevtsov, Yegor Anatolievich	23.25	1
	Kolomentsev, Yuri	24.16	2
	Venzhega, Alexei	24.7	3
Snowboard (women's)	Zaryanik, Anastasia	26.78	1
	Voronchikhina, Alexandra	27.02	2
	Gorshenina, Darya	27.71	3

By Olesya Osadchaya, reporting for the HSE news service portal