Lausanne, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Due to the new "two-wave" system being rolled out at the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games, 1,872 young athletes will participate, marking a 40 percent increase from the last edition four years ago, the Organizing Committee confirmed on Tuesday.
The 10 largest delegations are Switzerland (112), Russia (107), the United States (96), Germany (96), Canada (81), Czech Republic (77), Japan (74), Italy (69), Austria (64), and France (61).
The Swiss delegation will be the largest with 112 young athletes from 21 cantons who will feature in 15 of the 16 disciplines on the program.
With 43 members, the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation will have the largest group within the Swiss team.
As the host nation, the Swiss delegation for 2020 will be larger than their delegations for the first two editions of the Winter Youth Olympic Games combined.
Lausanne 2020 is the first gender equal Winter Youth Olympic Games. The event program will feature the same number of women as men, for the first time ever in Winter Olympic history.
The games will also have the largest number of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) at a Winter Youth Olympic Games, eight more than the last edition in Lillehammer in 2016. Twelve NOCs are participating for the first time at a Winter Youth Olympic Games.
Lausanne 2020 has added five new events: Women's Nordic Combined (Individual Normal Hill/4km), Women's Doubles Luge, Ice Hockey Mixed NOC 3x3 Tournament, Freeski Big Air and Snowboard Big Air. A new sport, Ski Mountaineering, will also feature for the first time.
The Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games will take place from January 9 to 22, 2020 with athelets from 79 countries and districts in attendance. The competitions will take place in the cantons of Vaud (Lausanne, La Vallee de Joux, Leysin, les Diablerets, Villars), Valais (Champery), Grisons (St. Moritz) and neighbouring France (Les Rousses, Les Tuffes stadium).
