Preparations for the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz (28–31 January 2022) are in full swing – once again, the legendary tournament is set to become a unique event in a class of its own. Work on the frozen Lake St. Moritz is on track: given the excellent ice quality, preparations for the polo field, 185 by 90 meters in size, started a few days ago, as did the assembly of the infrastructure on the lake weighing a total of 2,600 tons.
During the event, the COVID “2G” rule (access limited to individuals vaccinated against or cured of covid-19) applies in all outdoor areas; in all indoor spaces and at all events, the stricter “2G-Plus” rule will apply (vaccinated/cured plus a negative PCR or antigen test).
Further information is available on the event website https://www.snowpolo-stmoritz.com/tournament-2022/covid-19-rules/. The web-tv channel Pololine.tv will telecast all the games live to allow viewers not attending the event to follow the matches.
Sponsors, partners and guests of the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz are showing as much interest in the 37th edition of the legendary event as before – demand for VIP tickets even exceeds that witnessed in previous years. There is a waiting list for the Gala at the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, which sold out weeks ago.
A few VIP and Chukker Club tickets for all tournament days remain; the last available tickets are sold online at https://www.snowpolo-stmoritz.com/tickets/ on a first-come-first-serve basis.
The organiser Reto Gaudenzi comments:
We are delighted and very grateful to have once again received so much support from the authorities as well as from our international sponsors, partners, players and guests
and adds
we are and will continue to do our utmost to live up to the high expectations and deliver a top-notch – and above all safe – event
Preparations are on schedule; the first to arrive are the polo ponies.
Preparations are running according to plan on all levels. Besides preparing the polo field, covering a surface just shy of 17,000 square meters, the See-Infra Ltd, owned by the town of St. Moritz, will put up the entire infrastructure needed for the three-day snow polo tournament attended by some 15,000 spectators: tents, grandstands, a dozen towers and other elevated structures, the security fencing as well as all of the electrical and sanitary installations and the furnishings. The work will be completed in three weeks in close cooperation with mostly local specialist contractors.
In just two weeks, the main protagonists of the tournament – some 120 polo ponies – will be arriving from around Europe, giving them time to acclimatise to the high altitude and get acquainted with the snow, starting with walks and moving on to gentle training sessions. The ponies will also be shod with special horseshoes that have rubber tubing to funnel the snow out of the back of the shoe and studs to add traction, making sure the ponies have a perfect grip during the matches on the hard-pressed snow.
Six teams with players from nine countries
For the first time, six instead of four teams of the highest calibre will compete in the world’s most exclusive high-goal polo tournament on snow at the end of January 2022. The players, such as snow polo pros Valentin Novillo Astrada (ARG), Max Charlton (UK), or Robert Strom (FRA) and local star Tito Gaudenzi (CH), combine to make up nine nationalities.
The top Argentine players Guillermo “Sapo” Caset, Isidro Strada, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, and the outstanding US-American polo player Nic Roldan promise to deliver plenty of excitement. 2019 tournament winner and crowd favourite Melissa Ganzi from the USA is here with a first: she and her son Grant will be competing together on team Badrutt’s Palace Hotel for one of the most prestigious trophies in polo sport. That is to say, there should be no shortage of thrill and excitement at the tournament.
As ever, admission to the grounds of the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz is free
