In Tyumen, the potential for the development of phygital sports has been explored.

Fidigital sports is a new type of sport that was officially recognized in Russia on January 31, 2023, and is considered a transformation of esports, which has been developing in our country for over 30 years.

The study involved 1,201 students aged 17 to 25 from Tyumen State University, Siberian Federal University, South Ural State University, and other higher educational institutions. The results were published in the journal "Human. Sport. Medicine."

"The analysis of the study results showed that currently, young men are more knowledgeable about fidigital sports and are more actively engaged in it, as well as in traditional mass sports, compared to young women. Most students believe that fidigital sports will become widely popular in the future. On average, 21.2% of women and 18.3% of men do not believe in the potential development of functional-digital duathlon. Over 90% of students consider the use of virtual reality in the educational process of higher education institutions to be effective. Moreover, 55% of young men and 51% of young women of the total number would like to learn more about functional-digital duathlon," reported Irina Manzhelei, a professor in the Department of Physical Culture and Sports Technology at Tyumen State University.

The study of student involvement in mass sports revealed that 21% of young men and 11% of young women engage in sports four or more times a week, 31% of young men and 22% of young women participate in sports 2–3 times a week, while 19% of young men and 28% of young women engage in sports occasionally. Consequently, more than half of the young men (52%) and 33% of the young women participate in sports regularly.

It is worth noting that 18% of young men and 23% of young women find sports activities beneficial but struggle to find time for them. Only 6% of young men and 2% of young women practice fidigital sports two or more times a week. About 5% of students engage in fidigital sports occasionally. At the same time, 57% of young men and 70% of young women are not interested in fidigital sports. On average, 21.2% of women and 18.3% of men do not believe in the potential development of functional-digital duathlon. The study of students' free time budget showed that regardless of gender and university, the majority of respondents have 3–4 hours of free time per day. Therefore, students can find time for fidigital sports if they wish.

The information obtained allowed us to identify the prospects for the development of fidigital sports in the elective physical education environment of higher education institutions. In particular, there is a necessity to create a fidigital space, develop working programs for elective courses such as "Fidigital Football," "Fidigital Basketball," "Just Dance," form university teams, and organize a research group to study the peculiarities of training athletes in the types of functional-digital sports cultivated by the university.