Towards Each Other: Russian and Foreign Participants of the WYF 2024 Take Part in a Joint Race

On March 5, the Towards Each Other Race was held. It was attended by about 1,500 guests and participants of the World Youth Festival from 38 countries. Each of them overcame a distance of 4.6 km on the Sochi Autodrom track.

Two groups of Russian and foreign participants started from different locations at the same time and ran towards each other. Upon meeting, the young people greeted each other joyfully, hugged each other and exchanged flags of their countries. After that, the WYF 2024 participants from all over the world continued to move in a single stream to the finish line.

"This sporting event, which takes place within the framework of the World Youth Festival, gave an opportunity to guys from different countries to find new friends. I believe that people should unite and keep communicating with each other. Only this will help us, humanity, to solve world-class problems," said WYF 2024 participant Tadeo Taremwa from Uganda.

As young people taking part in the race note, this sporting event united the whole world and proved how important it is to unite young people representing different countries, cultures, religions and traditions.

"I am not really a very sporty person, but I decided to take part in the race because of its idea. Its main goal is to unite people from all over the planet who are rushing into a common future in a single stream," said Diana Kokobelyan from Nizhny Novgorod, a participant of the Festival.

Throughout the distance, the runners were accompanied and guided by professional pacemakers - athletes who set the pace for running distances. Having reached the finish line, each participant received a well-deserved medal.

The fastest participants in the race were Andrey Menikyan from the Perm region and Alla Prokofieva from the Samara region. Anna Kiseleva and Stepan Kopnin took second place among men and women, and Daria Khripkova and Sergey Dovzhik took third place.

For their victory, the athletes received medals, which were presented to them by the flight attendants of Aeroflot Airlines, the main partner of the Towards Each Other Race.

"The idea of the race is close to Aeroflot as the leader of the domestic air transportation industry, which has been uniting people, cities and countries for more than 100 years," said Andrey Chikhanchin, First Deputy General Director for Commerce and Finance of PJSC Aeroflot. - Aeroflot traditionally supports professional, amateur and corporate sports. The airline has its own running club, organized by proactive employees - Aeroflot Run, whose participants also took part in the race today. Speed and the desire to reach new heights are the sporting qualities that are familiar to every aviator. Moving towards each other and uniting flows is symbolic of the modern world, in which young people, despite difficulties and obstacles, see their future in open dialogue. We congratulate the winners and all participants in the race for completing the given distance. New successes and new achievements!”

Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Olga Petrova also took part in the race. She noted that this event is a great opportunity to unite young people, teach them the skills to win and cope with difficulties together.

“The emotions of unity are truly felt at the WYF 2024. At all times, sporting competitions symbolize peace and friendship and unite people. And today we turn to sport as a way to unite young people from different states and cultures in the space of fair, open competition. Sport strengthens character and will. Teaches you to overcome difficulties! In Russian universities, for example, sports clubs are actively being created and sports leagues are opening, which play a significant role in educational work,” noted Olga Petrova.

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The World Youth Festival is taking place at the Sirius Federal Territory from March 1 to 7, 2024, as per the decree issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at fostering international youth cooperation.

The Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) is the organizer of the World Youth Festival, with the World Youth Festival Directorate serving as the operator for the WYF 2024.