Alpine skiers Ethan Bouchard. left, and Eábha McKenna, right, are set to represent Ireland at the Winter EYOF ©Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

More teams have named their line-ups for the Winter European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Friuli Venezia Giulia, with three athletes set to represent Cyprus and two wearing Irish colours.

Cyprus' team consists of Alpine skiers Nikolas Papachristoforou and Andrea Loizidou and figure skater Stefania Yakovleva.

Their delegation is set to be led by Chef de Mission Dimitris Papatheodotou, with coaches Milan Matics for Alpine skiing and Sergei Komolov for figure skating also travelling to northern Italy.

Cyprus National Olympic Committee vice-president Iotis Ioannidis wished the athletes well for the EYOF when they received their sports equipment at the Olympic Palace.

Cypriot official Clea Papaellina is set to be at the Winter EYOF in her capacity as vice-chair of the European Olympic Committees' Culture and Education Commission, leading the European Young Olympic Ambassadors programme for 25 participants, aiming to inspire athletes to follow the Olympic values.

The Irish team consists of Alpine skiers Eábha McKenna and Ethan Bouchard.

Chef de Mission Nancy Chillingworth underlined the importance of the event for the athletes.

Ireland's gymnastics world champion Rhys McClenaghan, centre, shared his experience with the Irish athletes set to compete at the Winter EYOF ©Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
Ireland's gymnastics world champion Rhys McClenaghan, centre, shared his experience with the Irish athletes set to compete at the Winter EYOF ©Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

"They are two talented athletes, who are ready to embrace the next level in their sport," Chillingworth said.

"A multi-sport Games is always a different experience for athletes, and our focus in the OFI [Olympic Federation of Ireland] is to ensure that we grab every opportunity with athletes to develop them holistically and to prepare them for their senior careers.

"At these Games our focus will be on introducing the athletes to the Team Ireland culture and a high-performance setting, with the aim of them emerging from the event with an increased appetite for this level of competition."

Ireland's men's pommel horse world champion Rhys McClenaghan shared his experience with McKenna and Bouchard at the official team day prior to the start of the Winter EYOF.

More than 2,000 athletes from 40 countries are expected to take part at Friuli Venezia Giulia 2023, although Russian and Belarusian athletes are excluded due to the war in Ukraine.

The Winter EYOF is open to athletes aged 14 to 18, and is scheduled to start tomorrow and run until January 28.

Competition is due to be staged in Austria and Slovenia as well as northern Italy.