Initially scheduled to be held from February 11 to 19 in Erzurum this year, the event was cancelled after a deadly earthquake that struck the country and Syria.

The disaster saw more than 50,000 people killed and with damages worth billions of dollars.

Many athletes lost their lives during the earthquake in February, including Turkish men's handball team captain Cemal Kütahya and Ghana footballer Christian Atsu.

The disaster led to all sports events in the country being postponed or cancelled.

However, ISF secretary general Hrvoje Custonja has said that the organisation has begun talks to conduct it in the "beginning of 2025".

"We are in discussion with Turkey again," Custonja said.

"The idea is to have it at the beginning of 2025.

"The Winter Gymnasiade will be an U18 event.

"From the late 1970s, we have organised skiing within the ISF.

"But in 2018 in Grenoble, we had a test event for the Winter Gymnasiade.

"We wanted to try out more sports and the plan is to have eight winter sports.

"But the biggest challenge we are facing is to find host cities due to the climate crisis.

"But Turkey and Erzurum will be ready to host the event as they were when it was planned for February."

An educational programme was planned to be held simultaneously for the event in February and is set to be the case in 2025.

Turkey had proposed a bid with Erzurum for the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, before the International Olympic Committee dropped it.

The city hosted the 2011 International University Sports Association Winter World University Games.