The Winter Youth Olympic Games, which are due to take place from January 13 until 22 next year, will see top winter sport athletes aged between 14 and 18-years-old compete across 63 events while also taking part in a culture and education programme.

The event follows the inaugural Summer Youth Olympics which were successfully staged in Singapore last year and the FIS President, who recently visited Innsbruck to inspect the facilities for the Games, praised the work being done by the Organising Committee.

"I believe the Games will be a great success," said Kasper who also serves as a member both of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

"Preparations, such as the construction of the new Olympic Village, have been carried out perfectly.

"The FIS is very optimistic that everything will go well."

Kasper added that he believes the event in Innsbruck will help get younger generations involved in winter sport once again following a decline in interest in recent years.

"Unfortunately, we have had to realise that young people’s interest in winter sports is declining and that fewer and fewer parents spend the free time with their children in the snow," he said.

"The FIS and Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympics Games will counter this development with a varied range of fantastic events."

Innsbruck 2012 chief executive Peter Bayer said: "The innovative mixture of sport and culture as well as the competitions held as part of the Olympic Games for the first time make the organisation of this event especially challenging.

"We are excited that the Games are slowly becoming a tangible reality and we are working at full blast to turn them into a unique experience for the 1,058 athletes.

"The Tyrol’s Olympic heritage, its excellent sporting infrastructure and the support of its partners and sponsors are of great help."

Austrian alpine skier and World Cup gold medallist Michaela Kirchgasser, who welcomed the FIS President on his visit to Innsbruck, also backed the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic to be a huge success and extremely important for young athletes to mature into the Olympic champions of the future.

"Having the opportunity to take part in such a major event and competing with athletes from all over the world at the early age of 14 or 16 is a big advantage for any athlete’s development," said the 25-year-old former youth world champion.

The Winter Youth Olympic Games will be the third time Innsbruck has hosted the Olympics, having hosted the full Winter Olympics in 1964 and again in 1976, while Yoggl, the official mascot of the Games, was finally unveiled to the public by Bayer during the three-day Youth Olympic Games Snow Festival staged in the centre of the city last month.

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