The International University Sports Federation (FISU) is in charge of maintaining its spirit, as well as, joining the values of sport and culture. The FISU`s aim is to spread this idea throughout the world and to leave its legacy in all different Universiade headquarters.

Disciplines
The Winter Universiade includes 10 different disciplines::

• Alpine Skiing.
• Biathlon.
• Cross-country Skiing.
• Snowboard.
• Freestyle.
• Figure Skating.
• Speed Skating.
• Curling.
• Ice Hockey.
• Ski Jumping.

In Granada 2015 the competition programme covers the following disciplines: Alpine Skiing, Snowboard, Freestyle, Figure Skating, Speed Skating, Curling and Ice Hockey. Those competitions will take place both in Granada Capital City and Sierra Nevada.

Grace and power united in one sport, combined with music, dance and in some cases the ability to carry out these movements in pairs in perfect synchrony: a genuine art form.

This is what figure skating is about, making it one of the sports that is generally most popular with the public of the Universiade, thanks not only to the competitions, but also to the final performance organised at the end of the sports programme. On this occasion the lack of stress linked to the competition allows the athletes to show off their full potential, perhaps taking a few extra risks and offering the spectators an incredible spectacle.

During the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada, the figure skating programme provides for 4 events, leading to the awarding of important medals: men’s singles, ladies’ singles, pairs, ice dance and synchronized skating.

A sort of «younger brother» of speed skating on ice, short track speed skating differs from its «big brother» in two main ways: first of all it takes place on a 111.12 metre track inside a 30x60m ice rink, and secondly it involves the athletes competing with each other in groups or heats of 4 or 8 competitors, reducing skaters’ room for manoeuvre considerably.

For this reason, short track speed skating is characterised by its very high speed and above all by the fight between athletes to get in front and make it to the finishing line first.

At the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada the athletes will compete for eight gold medals, with six individual events and two relays.

The easiest way to describe this discipline is undoubtedly to compare it to the game of bowls, however in a decidedly more wintery version, given that it takes place on ice.

In a curling match, two teams made up of four players launch granite stones (stones) weighing almost 20 kg across a sheet of ice, with the objective of arriving as close as possible to the target, called the house, represented by four concentric rings. Each team has a total of eight stones available, two for each player, during each end, or set. A whole game may last 8 or 10 ends. The points for each end are awarded when all the players have launched their stones, on the basis of how many stones belonging to the same team are closer to the centre of the house, exactly as takes place in bowls. The final objective is to obtain more points than the opposing team.

The ultimate team sport at the Universiade, ice hockey demands force, power, precision and speed, as well as a very strong team spirit.

A hugely popular discipline throughout North America and most of Europe, ice hockey is considered to be the best known sport on ice at global level.

A large number of athletes participating at the Universiade have gone on to have successful careers at international level, joining important teams and achieving major success with their respective national teams at World Championships and the Olympics.

During the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada, both women’s and men’s tournaments will be organised.

The sports discipline that tries to the answer the question «who can make it down to the bottom of the mountain first?» One of the pillars of the sports programme of the Universiade, alpine skiing is the discipline with the highest level of participation at the event, with almost all the countries present at the Universiade usually entering at least one athlete in the downhill, super G, giant slalom and slalom events. These athletes also participate in the assigning of the medal for the «combined» event, which brings together results in at least three out of the four competitions. The first woman to win a gold medal in alpine skiing at the Universiade was Cécile Prince, who took the gold for France in the Super G organised on the slopes of Chamonix during the first edition of the Winter Universiade in 1960.

At the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada, the alpine skiing events will take place on ski runs in Sierra Nevada.

One of the younger disciplines in the programme of the Universiade, snowboarding was introduced at the 1995 Universiade in Jaca, Spain. Initially it was considered only as a demonstration sport and 29 athletes representing 10 countries took part in the first snowboarding competitions in Jaca.

The programme of the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada includes Half-Pipe, Parallel Giant Slalom, Snowboard Cross and Slopestyle parallel giant slalom competitions, for both men and women. In the parallel giant slalom and snowboard cross events the winner will be established on the basis of the time, with events characterised by exciting «one on one» races, uncertain until the end.

The snowboarding competitions will take place on Sierra Nevada.

Acrobatic or freestyle skiing is one of the youngest winter sports and more or less mirrors snowboarding events, but with the use of skis rather than a snowboard.

As it is a rapidly growing sport, especially in the university environment, freestyle skiing was introduced for the first time in the programme of the Universiade during the 2005 Austrian edition, held in Innsbruck.

At that time it was decided to present Ski Cross as a demonstrative discipline, preparing special courses, on which groups of four or six athletes competed in order to determine the fastest down a slope characterised by continuous jumps and obstacles.

The success of this first attempt to introduce the sport confirmed that freestyle skiing was a discipline of interest for FISU.