Lake Placid’s Art Lussi and daughter, ski jumper Nina Lussi, pose during a test lighting of the FISU cauldron in Brewster Park on Monday night, Jan. 9, three nights before the cauldron was to be officially lit on Thursday, Jan. 12, during the opening ceremony for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games. The test was videotaped. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — The 2023 FISU Winter World University Games — set for Jan. 12-22 — are well underway. This is the world’s largest multi-sport winter collegiate competition, and the biggest international sporting event in this village since the XIII Olympic Winter Games in 1980.

This 31st winter edition of the Games features more than 1,440 collegiate-athletes (ages 17-25) from 45 countries (plus Hong Kong) and more than 540 universities to compete in 86 medal events in 12 sports: Alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle and freeski, ice hockey, Nordic combined, short-track speedskating, ski jumping, snowboarding and speedskating.

Competition began on Wednesday, Jan. 11 with hockey matches in Canton and Potsdam. The opening ceremony was planned for 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12 at the Olympic Center’s 1980 Rink, and the closing ceremony is set for Sunday, Jan. 22 at the same venue after the men’s ice hockey gold-medal game, which begins at 5 p.m. In addition to Lake Placid, events will be held in the communities of Saranac Lake, Wilmington, North Creek, Canton and Potsdam.

The Adirondack Sports Council, headed by Executive Director Ashley Walden and based in Lake Placid, is the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games’ Organizing Committee.

The World University Games — Winter and Summer — are a program of the Federation Internationale du Sport Universitaire, known in the U.S. as the International University Sports Federation, or FISU.

Lake Placid’s Art Lussi and daughter, ski jumper Nina Lussi, test the lighting of the FISU cauldron in Brewster Park on Monday night, Jan. 9, three nights before the cauldron was to be officially lit on Thursday, Jan. 12, during the opening ceremony for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games. The test was videotaped. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Staged every two years in a different city, the winter edition of the FISU World University Games is a celebration of international university sports and culture.

Lake Placid first hosted the FISU Games in 1972 — with 22 countries, about 500 athletes and officials, and 28 events in seven sports, according to the Lake Placid Olympic Museum.

In 2023, the participating nations include: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China (People’s Republic of), Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Haiti, Hong Kong (China), Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea (Republic of), Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkiye, Ukraine, United States and Uzbekistan.

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2023 medals — made in New York

Here are the gold, silver and bronze medals for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games, which were made in New York state. (Photo provided)

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Employees at the Rochester Rehabilitation Center on Oct. 28 began packaging the first delivery of an expected 700 New York-made podium medals, according to a press release from the Lake Placid 2023 organizing committee.

Rochester Rehabilitation Center partnered with Flour City Craft Company, of Rochester, the designer and creator of the custom-made wooden boxes.

“The organizing committee is deeply honored to work with top partners all over New York state and especially with our friends at Rochester Rehabilitation Center and Flour City Craft Company,” said Ashley Walden, Adirondack Sports Council executive director, the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games’ Organizing Committee. “The quality and craftsmanship represent the best that New York has to offer. The boxes will keep the medals safe on their journey home and for years to come.”

Sidekick Creative, a graphic design agency based in Glens Falls, designed the medals, which feature a dimensional ice-inspired form, departing from the traditional circular medal shape.

Main Street is lined with Christmas decorations — as seen here on Monday night, Jan. 9 — to create a festive atmosphere for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games, set for Jan. 12 to 22. Main Street will be closed for traffic from this point at the bottom of Saranac Avenue to the Grand Adirondack Hotel during the Games so visitors can enjoy an assortment of fun activities. Medals will be awarded during ceremonies at Mid’s Park on Main Street. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

The centerpiece of the medal features an inlaid phosphorescent recycled glass medallion, engineered and produced in New York in partnership with Alfred University, leveraging the state’s history of innovative glass technology. Each medallion is infused with copper oxide to deliver an icy blue hue. The Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games logo is engraved upon the glass insert which features rare earth elements europium oxide, dysprosium oxide and samarium oxide, giving it a luminescent orange, red and yellow glow when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Learn more about the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games, and purchase tickets online, at www.lakeplacid2023.com.