Thousands of people attended the events on January 18, with 1,000 participants at the Ski Day while the grand opening concern in the evening drew a crowd of 6,000 at the Song Festival Grounds.

Tallinn’s Deputy Mayor Kaarel Oja said the first sports day achieved its goals.

“The emotions and results of this opening day are exactly what we’ve worked for. The Song Festival Grounds were filled with people, including many who had never skied or hadn’t done so in a long time, but had a positive experience during the ski lessons and plan to go skiing again soon. That’s the goal — introducing different sports and creating opportunities to engage with them, encouraging small steps to inspire a love for sports,” he said in a statement.

The keywords for the European Sports Capital’s grand opening were courage, determination, and perseverance.

These themes were brought to life artistically by the dancers of the fire theater Kelfirius and drummers led by Hele-Riin Uib-Pachel who performed before LORDI.

The opening also featured a performance by young skiers from the Lumeakadeemia (Snow Academy).

The European Capital of Sport program continues in a month with a sports day introducing combat sports, scheduled for February 22 at Sõle Sports Center.

February will also feature a major winter swimming event at various locations across Tallinn.

Tallinn is the 25th city to hold the title, taking over from Genoa in Italy. Previous European Capitals of Sport include Madrid, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Dublin, Lisbon, Sofia, Milan, and Prague.

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