SELL Student Games is a multi-sport event, held annually, that is open to all university and college students worldwide. The Games are named as an acronym after the hosting Baltic Region countries in their native languages – Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (Finnish: Suomi, Estonian: Eesti, Latvian: Latvija, Lithuanian: Lietuva). The principles of the games are that everyone can participate and therefore the event combines top sports and joyful student event. The most recent 2026 games gather around 1,200 competing students.

Events

The main disciplines of the games are athletics, swimming, orienteering, judo, powerlifting and chess as individual events. Basketball and 3x3 basketball, volleyball and beach volleyball, seven-a-side football and floorball / unihockey are as team events. Also tennis, badminton, table tennis, padel, wrestling, ultimate frisbee, aesthetic group gymnastics and ice-hockey has appeared in the games.

History

In 1923 student organizations of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania established an extensive co-operation agreement, which resulted in first regional student competition for the university students of the respective countries in Tartu, Estonia. During this period there were organized separately summer games, winter games and chess tournaments. The competitions lasted until 1940 when the last winter games were held before the ties between Baltic States were severed by occupation of the Baltic States around the World War II.

After Baltic States became independent again the tradition of competition was restored in a meeting held 21 April 1997, and the 1998 SELL Games were organized in Tartu. The competition has been open to all university students around the world since then.

Hosts

SELL summer games

+ Year Host I 1923 Tartu, Estonia II 1924 Riga, Latvia III 1926 Helsinki, Finland IV 1929 Kaunas, Lithuania V 1930 Tallinn, Estonia VI 1931 Riga, Latvia VII 1932 Helsinki, Finland VIII 1933 Kaunas, Lithuania IX 1934 Tartu, Estonia X 1935 Riga, Latvia XI 1936 Helsinki, Finland XII 1937 Kaunas, Lithuania XIII 1938 Tartu, Estonia XIV 1939 Riga, Latvia (cancelled) 1940–1997 Not held XV 1998 Tartu, Estonia XVI 1999 Kaunas, Lithuania XVII 2000 Jelgava, Latvia XVIII 2002 Tartu, Estonia XIX 2003 Kaunas, Lithuania XX 2004 Tampere, Finland XXI 2005 Riga, Latvia XXII 2006 Tartu, Estonia XXIII 2007 Kaunas, Lithuania XXIV 2008 Espoo, Finland XXV 2009 Jelgava, Latvia XXVI 2010 Tartu, Estonia XXVII 2011 Kaunas, Lithuania XXVIII 2012 Espoo, Finland XXIX 2013 Riga, Latvia XXX 2014 Tartu, Estonia XXXI 2015 Kaunas, Lithuania XXXII 2016 Tampere, Finland XXXIII 2017 Riga, Latvia XXXIV 2018 Tartu, Estonia XXXV 2019 Kaunas, Lithuania XXXVI 2020 Lahti, Finland (cancelled) 2021 Not held XXXVII 2022 Riga, Latvia XXXVIII 2023 Tartu, Estonia XXXIX 2024 Kaunas, Lithuania XL 2025 Vierumaki, Finland XLI 2026 Riga, Latvia

SELL winter games

+ Year Host I 1929 Riga, Latvia II 1931 Helsinki, Finland III 1933 Kaunas, Lithuania (cancelled) IV 1935 Riga & Sigulda, Latvia V 1938 Zarasai, Lithuania VI 1940 Otepää, Estonia

SELL chess tournaments

+ Year Host I 1937 Riga, Latvia II 1938 Tartu, Estonia III 1939 Helsinki, Finland

Results 2022

Records Athletics has been one of the sports held at the Games since the inaugural edition.

Men's athletics EventRecordAthleteNationalityYearGames100 m10.47Rytis Sakalauskas2010 Tartu 200 m20.89Rytis Sakalauskas2010 Tartu400 m47.20Jānis Leitis2010 Tartu 800 m1:50.29Vitalij Kozlov2007 Kaunas 1500 m3:45.85Dmitrijs Jurkevičs24 May 2013 Riga, Latvia5000 m14:18.23Simas Bertašius20 May 2017 Riga, Latvia110 m hurdles13.85 Elmo Lakka13 May 2016 Tampere, Finland400 m hurdles52.27Valdas Valintėlis2011 Kaunas High jump2.25 mRaivydas Stanys25 May 2013 Riga, LatviaLong jump7.78 mPovilas Mykolaitis2003 Kaunas Triple jump16.10 mMantas Dilys2010 Tartu Shot put20.05 mMāris Urtāns2007 Kaunas Discus throw64.79 mAndrius Gudžius17 May 2014 Tartu, EstoniaMen's Discus ThrowHammer throw59.56 mJuha Rinta-aho14 May 2016 Tampere, FinlandJavelin throw86.36 mVadims Vasilevskis2007 Kaunas 5000 m walk (track)20:16.07Marius Žiūkas2011 Kaunas4 × 100 m relay40.57LKKA2010 Tartu

Women's athletics EventRecordAthleteNationalityYearGames100 m11.51Lina Grinčikaitė2010 Tartu 200 m23.69Lina Grinčikaitė2010 Tartu 400 m53.48Agnė Orlauskaitė2011 Kaunas 800 m2:02.55Eglė Balčiūnaitė2008 Espoo 1500 m4:21.12Rasa Drazdauskaitė2003 Kaunas 3000 m9:20.93Vaida ŽūsinaitėMay 2012 Espoo, Finland5000 m16:38.90Milda Vilčinskaitė14 May 2016 Tampere, Finland100 m hurdles13.55Sonata Tamošaitytė2011 Kaunas 400 m hurdles1:01.82Sandra Kruma2009 Jelgava High jump1.92 mAnna Iljuštšenko2010 Tartu Long jump6.40 Aiga Grabuste16 May 2014 Tartu, EstoniaWomen's Long JumpTriple jump13.42 mAdrija Grocienė2000 Jelgava Shot put16.50 mChia-Ying Lin2006 TartuDiscus throw51.75 mDace Ruskule2003 Kaunas Hammer throw63.33 mKati Ojaloo14 May 2016 Tampere, FinlandJavelin throw61.60 mAnete Kociņa19 May 2017 Riga, Latvia3000 m walk (track)13:10.75Anita Kažemaka2011 Kaunas 4 × 100 m relay45.93LKKA2007 Kaunas

See also South American University Games European Universities Games ASEAN University Games All-Africa University Games Baltic Sea Games

References

Bell, Daniel (2003). Encyclopedia of International Games (Pg. 337-8). McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina. .

External links