LAUSANNE (Switzerland) - INNSBRUCK will host the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics in 2012.

The International Olympic Committee has awarded the games to the Austrian city over Kuopio, Finland.

The announcement was made Friday by IOC president Jacques Rogge after a postal ballot by more than 100 IOC members.

Innsbruck hosted the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976. It had been the favorite after receiving the best rating in an IOC evaluation report.

The Youth Games will feature about 1,000 athletes aged 14-18 competing in seven sports - skiing, ice hockey, biathlon, bobsled, curling, luge and figure skating.

Innsbruck has a budget of US$22.5 million (S$33.5 million) for the 10-day event.

Kuopio would have been a first-time Olympic host.

The first Summer Youth Olympics will be held in Singapore in 2010. -- AP