St Moritz 1948: Overview
All eight competition and ceremony venues used at St Moritz 1948 already existed, with five of them having hosted events at the resort’s first Olympic Winter Games 20 years earlier.
Most of the St Moritz 1948 venues are still in use, with the exception of the Olympic Ski Jumping Hill and the Skistadion. The Ski Jumping Hill, the 1928 Games venue known locally as the Olympiaschanze, was closed in 2006 because of safety concerns. Ski Club Alpina used the venue prior to its closure, and though plans were in place for the construction of a new hill, it was decided not to continue with them due to cost issues. A 90m hill was built next to the existing 70m hill for the 1948 Games, when it hosted the normal hill ski jumping competition and the ski jumping leg of the Nordic combined event. The Skistadion hosted cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and two demonstration events at the 1948 Games: the military patrol competition (military patrol is a team sport in which athletes compete in ski mountaineering, rifle shooting and cross-country skiing), and the cross-country skiing round of the winter pentathlon competition. Though its stands and shooting ranges were dismantled a few years ago, the Skistadion’s trails now form part of a 230-kilometre cross-country skiing network catering for both the classic and skating styles.
The other six remaining St Moritz 1948 venues continue to be used today by high-performance athletes and the general public.
Built in 1927 especially for the II Olympic Winter Games, the Olympic Stadium is now a private house. It lay empty and fell into disrepair in the second half of the 20th century, before being refurbished by the current owner, a celebrated Swiss designer. Many of its original features have been restored to their former glory, while the ice rink in front of the building is now used as a driving range by a local golf club and also hosts occasional charity cricket matches. The stadium was the venue for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey events in both 1928 and 1948.
Among the resort’s other two-time Olympic venues are its two naturally refrigerated tracks – the Cresta Run and the Olympia Bob Run St Moritz. First constructed in 1904, the Olympia Bob Run is one of the oldest bobsleigh tracks in the world and one of the most environmentally friendly. More than 15,000 cubic metres of natural snow and 7,000 cubic metres of water are used to rebuild it every winter, without the aid of any chemical products. The run regularly hosts major bobsleigh, luge and skeleton competitions, and hosted events in all three disciplines at the Winter Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020.
The world-famous Cresta Run was the venue for the cresta event at the 1948 Games, just as it had been in 1928, on the event’s one previous Olympic appearance. It has been built from scratch with natural snow every year since the winter of 1884/85, and hosted 30 competitions in 2019.
The venue for the six Alpine skiing events at the 1948 Olympic Winter Games (men’s and women’s downhill, slalom and combined), Corviglia/Piz Nair is now known as St Moritz-Corviglia. Boasting 155 kilometres of runs and 23 lifts, its slopes have hosted the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships five times in all and three times since 1948: in 1974, 2003 and 2017.
Other venues that remain in use are the Kulm Palace Hotel skating rink and the Suvretta Haus ice rink. Both were ice hockey venues at the 1948 Games.