A major sporting hub

Local residents and visitors make extensive use of the region’s Olympic facilities and ski trails. By way of example, more than 17,000 people skated at the Olympic Speed Skating Oval across the 2018/19 season, and over 40,000 ski lessons were given at Whiteface, Gore and Belleayre, which together sold in excess of 11,000 season passes.

In total, more than 5,000 skiing, skating and sliding athletes from 30 countries trained and competed at Lake Placid’s world-renowned Olympic venues at collegiate, national and international level in 2018/19.

The venues have hosted more than 470 major national and international events and competitions since 1981. These events include no fewer than 15 world championships and more than 110 World Cup rounds in Alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, figure skating, freestyle skiing, luge, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding and speed skating. Lake Placid also hosted seven NCAA Division III Men’s Ice Hockey National Championships and 15 ECAC Men’s Ice Hockey Championships.

In 2019, it staged 30 senior events across 75 days of competition, more than 55 training days, over 20 junior Alpine skiing competitions and the eighth International Children’s Winter Games, which brought together 430 young athletes from 14 countries.

The venues are owned jointly by the community and the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA). Founded by the State of New York in 1981 to protect the public’s investment in Lake Placid’s Olympic venues, ORDA operates, markets and promotes the sites and brings events to them. These sites include the Olympic Center, the Olympic Speed Skating Oval, the Olympic Jumping Complex, the Mount Van Hoevenberg Sports Complex and Whiteface Mountain.

ORDA makes these venues available all year round, maximising the economic and social benefits they bring to the Olympic region. It has also expanded its portfolio over the years, adding Gore Mountain and Belleayre Mountain, while a new combined bobsleigh, luge and skeleton run was built in 2000. In 2018, the New York state government made a USD 240 million investment in Lake Placid’s Olympic venues in preparation for the 2023 Winter World University Games, a recognition of the contribution the venues make to the New York economy.

ORDA also works closely with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, leveraging the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center built in 1989 to enhance the training opportunities Lake Placid provides. This partnership helps maximise use of the venues.