As part of the III Congress of Young Scientists, the session "Phygital Science: Do You Have Any Ideas?" discussed technologies that are planned to be used at the Games of the Future, one of the main events of 2024.

As the project manager Igor Stolyarov noted, the organizers are trying to add something innovative to almost every discipline.

"We will really have an electronic stadium, as well as avatars of a gigantic scale, which will be seen by spectators both offline and online. There is a special technology for this. It's not cheap at all. And we thought for a long time whether we would be able to afford it. In hockey, for example, for the first time in the history of sports, we will make the markings mapping, in martial arts there will be a hanging truss, and in basketball we will have LED boards and a ceiling. We hope that the picture will shock the whole world," the source told RT.

Phygital racing competitions should also be very interesting at the Games of the Future. For now, the athletes will determine the strongest in karting. But according to SMP Racing driver Irina Sidorkova, you should not limit yourself to this type of program.

"It will be great if we see touring car competitions at the phygital games in the near future, because they will give us more spectacle. For this, first of all, you need a large autodrome, like in Sochi. It is shortened, but it will still be very interesting to race on it. Therefore, I think it is not so difficult to organize everything and come to an agreement with the athletes. It would also be interesting to see motorcycles at such tournaments. And first of all, pit bikes," Sidorkova told RT.

At the same time, according to the athlete, thanks to the development of e-sports, it is no longer necessary to engage in them from childhood to succeed in auto racing.

"Of course, if we are talking about a professional career and we plan to see a driver in Formula 1 or in the World Endurance Championship, then we need to start from a very young age. I started karting at the age of six. But now everything is changing, and in the virtual world you can become successful even at the age of 30. Nissan, for example, has an academy where those athletes who win cyber competitions are selected," Sidorkova explained.

The racer herself plans to take part in phygital competitions in Sochi in March. However, he does not yet know which tracks to prepare for.

"Of course, I would like to get this information as soon as possible. But I hope they will choose something interesting for us. For example, it would be great to ride a virtual race at the Kazan Ring," the RT interlocutor admitted.

The Games of the Future open up many new opportunities in terms of working with the audience. According to Alexander Petrunenko, captain of the phygital basketball team at Rodina Media, a huge audience of gamers will finally start following traditional sports.

"The younger generation, for example, doesn't always pay attention to real basketball. Sometimes he doesn't watch it at all. And phygital sports connects these areas, two different audiences meet. They can watch the familiar and learn something new at the same time. For me, as a physical athlete, the cyber part is still more complicated. But in a couple of months, you can understand the rules of the game, how to act. And continue to progress," Petrunenko told RT.

Moreover, according to him, the preparation for phygital tournaments is very different from the standard one, because in addition to practicing throws and tactical actions on the floor, you also need to play the console.

"The specifics are completely different, the recovery and loads are different. This is a special world that needs its own coaches and players who are able to develop from all sides. We met with Spaniards, Chinese, Serbs. Usually, these are primarily basketball players, and they cannot immediately understand that phygital is a connection between a regular game and a virtual one. And when they get involved, they regret that they didn't come up with everything," Petrunenko said.

The Games of the Future can also become an impetus for the development of another direction — cybathletics, in which people with disabilities take part. According to prosthetic test pilot Serghei Baciu, these competitions are useful both for the participants and for the equipment manufacturers.

"Cybathletics consists in the fact that people with different technical means of rehabilitation compete with each other in the performance of everyday tasks. If it's a prosthetic arm, they take out various objects, for example. The last time I had to shoot a bow at all. I very much doubted that I would be able to do it with two prostheses. But he did. Such competitions help developers to see in the fields how their product or competitors' prosthesis works. Investors have the opportunity to see live where their money goes. And the participants themselves share their experience on how to improve their everyday life. And thanks to the Games of the Future, we hope that cybathletics will also be able to reach a new level," Baciu told RT.

  • Irina Sidorkova and Alexander Petrunenko on the sidelines of the Congress of Young Scientists