How the Republican Universiade and the Spartakiad of Colleges were held in Minsk

In Minsk, a large-scale sports and youth festival was held at the venue of the Sports Palace, which gave an official start to the Republican Universiade and the Republican Spartakiade of student colleges of the 2026/2027 academic year. The event brought together thousands of students from 31 universities and college students from all over the country. Deputy Prime Minister Natalia Petkevich took part in the festive race together with students.

The official start of the competition took place after the symbolic fire was lit. Take out and light the torch was given the right to outstanding young athletes Ksenia Branfilova and Abubakar Haslakhanov. After that, at the same time, skateboarding, streetball, roller-sport and drag-bot competitions began at three venues in Minsk, as well as a mass race at a distance of 3 kilometers.

As Deputy Prime Minister Natalia Petkevich noted, the youth fled with full dedication from start to finish:

- It was a pleasure to run shoulder to shoulder with everyone, to be in the middle of this wave. Sport is a challenge, sport is a union and self-realization. Everything you need to develop a strong personality can be embodied in sports. At the same time, it does not matter what goal everyone sets for himself: to maintain the body in tone or to storm the higher pedestals. The main thing is to be together.

Deputy Minister of Education Ekaterina Petrutskaya also congratulated the participants of the race. According to her, our youth is the best – healthy, strong, self-confident, ready to hard work to prove their success in sports, profession and study

- The guys confirmed it again today. When we are united, we are invincible. There are universities and colleges literally from all corners of the country, about 5 thousand spectators gathered in the stands, and about 1.5 thousand active children came to the start of the race. Belarusian youth once again showed how sporty and united they are.

The first to finish on the festive race was a third-year student of Vitebsk State Technological University Vladislav Avreitsovich.

- Very interesting, dynamic and really massive start. Competing side by side with students from all over the country is a huge charge of cheerfulness. I have been doing athletics for six years, before that I gave ten years to swimming, so experience helped. And the excellent sunny weather in Minsk today played into our hands, the winner of the race did not hide his emotions.

First Deputy Minister of Sports Alexander Dorokhovich told about the key innovations of the season:

- We are holding the Universiade and the Spartakiad in an updated, modern format, meeting the interests of the youth themselves. The program for the first time includes topical youth disciplines: skateboarding, roller sports, basketball 3x3 (streetball). For the third year in a row, races on dragon-class boats (dragonbots) are very popular. We see with what huge and friendly delegations universities and colleges from all over Belarus have come to support their teams. And the support of the stands always opens a second wind.

Chairman of the Belarusian Association of Student Sports Alexander Bogdanovich also shared his impressions of the sports holiday:

- Today is a wonderful day – the opening of the new season and awarding the winners of the previous one. Student sports in Belarus unites a real elite, and it is gratifying to see that the heads of ministries and universities personally participate in dragonboat races, showing young people the right example of a healthy lifestyle. In our country, excellent conditions have been created for practicing physical culture at any level - from mass student to sports of higher achievements. The guys have every opportunity to train in the best arenas and set new records.

In the team ranking among universities, the first place was taken by the Belarusian State University of Physical Culture (BSUFK), the second place by the Belarusian State University (BSU), the third by the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radio Electronics (BSUIR). Among the colleges, the best was the team of the city of Minsk. In second place is the team of the Brest region, in third place is the team of the Gomel region.

semenkova@sb.by

Photo on the announcement: archive "SB"