Flying in from training camps across Europe, or from their home bases in Australia, the first 16 athletes have settled into ‘The Vortex’ – the Youth Olympic Village in Lausanne.

Ice Hockey athlete Sai Lake was amongst the first athletes to arrive and said the village exceeded his expectations. 

“I had seen photos of the village before I arrived, but it’s way better than I thought it was,” the 15-year-old said. “It’s so massive, it has everything you’d want!”

The ease of access to medical facilities, education programs and nutrition services will provide a unique opportunity for the young athletes during their first taste of an ‘Olympic-like’ experience.

“At most tournaments I’ve competed in, we often stay in rooms at the ice rink and we don’t have access to recovery spaces or physios or anything, but here we have the gym, physio, medical staff and recovery centres all available,” Lake said.

“It’s such a change to the competitions I’m used to because often if you get injured during a competition you had to figure out how to manage the injury mostly by yourself, but here you’ve got access to medical services which means you can get back to playing quickly.

“Plus, they’ll give us tips and information that we can take into future competitions after the Games.”

The Australian Team for Lausanne 2020 is made up of 33 athletes during a two-wave period, an innovative concept designed to increase hosting capacities with each wave of athletes having a shorter stay in the village. 

The youngest Aussie at 14 and six months is ice hockey player Molly Lukowiak, while biathlete Luka Miskin is the eldest on the Team at 17 and 11 months.

The ice hockey competition will provide one of the most unique environments for the Team in Lausanne, with the debuting 3x3 Mixed National Olympic Committee (NOC) format.

The eight participating teams will be made up of athletes from all different NOCs, meaning teammates will have never played with each other before, let alone speak the same language.

Ice Hockey player Ebony Brunt said meeting athletes from other countries will be one of the highlights, but also one of the biggest challenges on the rink.

“Playing with people from different countries who have different styles will be so interesting and I’m really keen to learn how they play and compare it to my style,” Brunt said.

“But the language will be a big challenge on the rink if we don’t understand what each other are trying to communicate.

“I imagine when we do connect on the rink it will be so good and I’m really excited to see how it plays out.”

Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games kick off on January 9. You can watch all the action live at Olympics.com.au/live-stream.

Get to know the athletes HERE and learn more about the Games HERE.

Georgia Thompson