Almaty’s Incredible Winter Universiade

I got to spend a few days last week in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the largest city and former capital, to explore and experience the 2017 Winter Universiade, a spectacular event that left an incredible impression on me.

First of all, what’s the Winter Universiade? Also known as the Winter University Games, the Universiade is held every two years in both Summer and Winter forms, and is the largest multi-sport event in the world after the Olympics.  It’s organized by the International University Sports Federation, and is only open to university students, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t attract some of the top competitors in each sport anyway who also happen to be university students!

I first heard about the Winter Universiade in 2011, when I was actually invited to compete representing the US at the 2011 Universiade in Erzurum, Turkey.  After 2009, US Figure Skating stopped sending an official team to Universiade, and so the organizers actually decided to reach out directly to intercollegiate skaters.  At the time, I was a student at Boston University, and our team was the reigning Intercollegiate Champions, so the organizing committee invited us to send a team of figure skaters to compete in the event, up to 3 men, 3 women, 3 pairs teams and 3 ice dance couples.

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My final competition was the 2012 US National Championships the following year

Alas, due to funding constraints and school commitments, I was unable to train for or go to the event, but my interest was piqued.  When I was in Almaty a year ago, I saw the publicity materials and immediately decided that I would go.

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I only had enough time off to go from February 1-4, but I wish I could have gone to the whole event.

And boy, was it an incredible event.  Here’s a look at the opening ceremony, which is still the talk of Kazakhstan:

And here’s the closing ceremony:

The event drew over 5000 athletes from every corner of the globe to one of the most important cities of Central Asia, which had constructed all kinds of new stadiums, venues, and an entire Athlete’s Village of apartment blocks for the event.  Almaty was one of the finalist cities for the 2022 Winter Olympics, but lost out to Beijing.  After seeing what they were able to do with the Universiade, I’m confident it’s only a matter of time before we see an Olympics there.

My main goal for my time there was to watch the figure skating events, not just because I’m a former figure skater, but also because some of my favorite skaters happened to be competing.  Former World Champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, former World medallist Elena Radionova, reigning Olympic Bronze Medalist (and Almaty resident) Denis Ten, and a whole host of other illustrious competitors were attending (many of whom won medals), in addition to tens that I had never heard of (some of whom also won medals!).  Because I’d never heard of them, that meant that I could watch them with the excitement and anticipation of watching a competitor for the very first time, without the pressure of wondering what they will do or if they’ve fixed something since the last time I saw them.  By sheer luck, I managed to get seats in the first 3 rows for three of the five events.  The total cost of all my tickets?  About $20.  I love Kazakhstan.

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The second row behind the judges had the best seats in the house for the Ladies’ Free Skating

The event was pretty unique because it’s only the second time that a major figure skating event has been held in Kazakhstan (the first was the 2011 Asian Winter Games, a tiny event by comparison).  Most of the audience (save a few superfans) had never seen skating, so even a one-revolution jump (i.e. an enormous mistake to my eyes) drew gasps of awe and thunderous applause.  During the first few events, just a simple spin would garner enough applause to completely drown out the music.  In fact, the first few skaters in each event would get applause just for standing still in their starting poses.  And the energy for the skaters that the audience liked was positively electric – every child in the audience was given a Kazakhstani flag to wave, and I got one too for being a “guest who can speak Kazakh.”

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Denis Ten of Kazakhstan brings the crowd to its feet before his Short Program, which he won.

A friend of mine who came with the team from Mexico also pointed out to me that it was one of the best-organized competitions he had ever been to, and he had been to four world championships.  I could tell, as well, that despite a noticeable security presence (which was much appreciated), there were trilingual volunteers EVERYWHERE ready to help you find you way to your event, your seat, and to help you get taxis in Almaty’s notoriously unusual system of gypsy cabs.  The shuttles ran all over all the time, and Almaty itself seemed a perfect place for the event, covered in fresh white snow each evening with many people in bright winter coats and hats.

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This was the worst seat that I had the entire week.  It cost me about $2.

My standout favorite of the event was Aiza Mambekova of Kazakhstan.  Skating in front of a home crowd in any event is daunting.  Skating in front of a sold-out crowd for figure skating is unheard of.  Skating in front of 12,000 people who cheered so loudly that you couldn’t hear the music?  This girl not only has nerves of steel, but poise and carriage.  This was her first-ever senior international competition, and she absolutely nailed her free skate, which was to traditional Kazakh music (which I hope to see many more skaters choosing in the future).  This program put her in 13th place overall with personal best scores.  Well done, Aiza!  Also shoutout to my friend’s friend’s mom who coaches her!

Another highlight came from Elena Radionova, who won the Ladies’ event.  Her Short Program was the top short program, and showed incredible interpretation and musicality to Porgy and Bess.  Her free program contained numerous mistakes, but her lead from this program helped her cinch the title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq3kC5n0bGU

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, 2015 World Champion, also had a stellar short program to Carmina Burana, but her free skate was one of the worst of her career, and led to her falling to 4th place behind two extremely strong competitors from Japan, Rin Nitaya and Hinano Isobe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7seJNo7auHM

Nitaya and Isobe’s programs were both spectacular, showcasing class, skating skills, and powerful talent and work ethic.  Their medals were both well-deserved, and I look forward to seeing more from them in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GSlgwayxjM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4VDBdIwVh0

Another highlight from Japan came in the men’s event, where Keiji Tanaka took the silver medal.  This is his second year at senior, and has been something of a breakout season for him.  After winning the silver medal at Junior Worlds in 2011, he spent a few more years at Junior before moving up to Senior last year, and this year he won the bronze medal at the NHK Trophy in Japan and the silver medal at Japanese Nationals (a HUGE deal considering how many talented skaters come out of Japan).  Me being in Kyrgyzstan and all, though, I had no idea who he was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZvuVnLFK_U

The biggest highlight, of course, was Almaty’s own Denis Ten, who is currently in an MBA program in Almaty.  Denis has been one of my favorite skaters for about 7 years now, and a major highlight of his career was his bronze medal at the Sochi Olympics.  His SP to Romeo and Juliet was far and away the best of the SP’s, and the crowd could not contain its enthusiasm for him.

His free skate to Tosca also brought the house down despite singling his first triple Axel.  His interpretation and passion on the ice is second to none.  Everyone around me had chills watching this skate.

Fantastic events all around, and I’m so glad I went.  The event was relatively clean, with only a few falls, but a LOT of personal best and season’s best performances, which always makes me happy.  I got to see a lot of skaters I would have never seen otherwise, as well as some familiar favorites.  But best of all, I got to absorb the energy of Almaty as it welcomed people from around the world to Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

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Denis Ten of Kazakhstan won the event in his hometown.

I know I’ll be first in line for the 2026 Winter Olympics, because after seeing this event, I can say for sure that Almaty will be one of the greatest Olympic host cities ever.  If a sport you like ever has a competition in Kazakhstan, GO!

Bravo, Almaty!  АЛҒА!

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