Snow Polo, which was discontinued from the Olympics, is paving its way to make a comeback. Yes! After a long 90 years of wait, we will be able to see a shift in the history of sports, in the comeback of Polo at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics. The sport’s last participation was in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. While most things in land polo are the same, to understand or figure out an answer to “what is snow polo,” one must point out the difference in terrain. Snow polo, unlike regular polo, is played on ice surfaces such as frozen lakes, as opposed to grass surfaces used in land pol
How did this happen? To know this, let’s trace back to the history of the Olympics when Polo was still a part of it. The first Olympic equestrian medals were not awarded to the show jumpers or the dressage riders, but to polo players, in June 1900, when a joint British/US team took gold. The 1900 Paris Olympics were the first to include a sport related to horses. Polo became a part of four Olympic Games. In 1948, when Olympics resumed in London, Polo was not included. Quoting the St. Moritz official website, “St. Moritz has played host to the world’s pre-eminent snow polo tournament since 1985. Besides being the first-ever snow polo tournament, the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz is the only «high goal» polo tournament played on snow”.
In 2016 the first Polo Club Kitzbühel was founded and will function as the official host of the Bandura Bank Snow Polo World Cup Kitzbühel, states the official website.
Azerbaijani team won the Snow Polo World Cup for 2022, an engaging match between the rangers held in the midst of angelic background as if showcasing a godly war in the sky. The 38th edition of the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz, 2023 will be held on the frozen lake of St Mortiz from January 27 to 29, 2023. It is highly recommended that you don’t miss out on the Snow Polo St. Moritz tickets, and an experience of a lifetime.
As an ode to the Snow Polo Challenge Cup world-famous Whiskey making company, has also a special edition, the snow polo royal salute, “It is carefully crafted to a higher than usual ABV of 46.5% to match the exact latitude of St Moritz, the Swiss resort where snow polo was first played against the backdrop of pristine, white mountain peaks”- Royal Salute.
Adding to the list of the rare matches played in the snow, the Snow Polo Tremblant, the 2-day polo tournament, was last held in Mont-Tremblant on March 3-4, 2017, marking its third edition.
The Federation of International Polo (FIP) has been persuading the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reintroduce the sport. The revival of Polo became the reason of setting up FIP in the 1980s. According to Luke Tomilson, former England Polo team captain: “Polo is a truly global sport again now, having not been for about half a century. It is a terrific spectator sport and would enhance the equestrian side of the Olympics.”
In 2018, FIP President Nicholas Colquhoun-Denvers said: “It has been an exciting time for the Federation. This is a year of Olympic aspirations with FIP dedicated to trying to get national teams into various IOC events such as the Pan-American Games through Pat Nesbitt and his team and the Asian Games. With Alessandro Giachetti, Simone Perillo, and Piero Dillier’s help, we have been working on the possibility of getting our sport of Snow Polo included in the Winter Olympics sometime in the future and we have created the Olympic Games Snow Polo Committee. To this end, we are contacting all our National Polo Associations and Federations around the world to encourage them to ensure that they are recognized by their own National Olympic Committees.” And thus, in the same year, Nicholas Colquhoun-Denvers presented the proposal by FISE, the Italian Equestrian Sports Federation at St Moritz during the Snow Polo tournament along with Alessandro Giachetti, head of FISE’s Polo department, and Simone Perillo, FISE’s Secretary General.
In 2019, Milano Cortina was awarded the Olympic Winter Games 2026, and since then several presentations for adding Polo to the games have been made. Polo reappeared in 2020, in Cortina, through the Italian Polo challenge.
Giachetti has said: “We are working on a project, on a dream – having polo in the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics. We are working hard with the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and the Italian Olympic Committee.”
The Snow Polo edition, as a sport, is one that is memorable in its scenic value and sportly valour. Snow Polo Moritz caters to this memorable experience, and we expect no less out of the Snow Polo World Cup 2023
