The Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz organizers pulled out all the stops to make this year’s tournament happen. With doubts over consistent ice depth just two weeks ago, the team has worked double shifts, around the clock, even using helicopters to fly in the infrastructure.
Founder and organizer Reto Gaudenzi comments, “It was built in ten days only, with 220 tons of equipment—the equivalent to the weight of 80 elephants! We worked day and night; it’s a miracle that we finished it all. The almighty must be a polo player because he has organized perfect weather—it is cold for the ice, but sunny for the spectators and we are sold out!”
The first match saw last year’s champions Azerbaijan Land of Fire take on Flexjet. With the team unchanged from their win in 2022, Azerbaijan Land of Fire came out of the starting gates with a well-drilled rhythm, which saw powerful teamwork combined with individual skill. Tito Gaudenzi seemed in excellent form with a very impressive goal from 60 yards out.
Flexjet, on the other hand, seemed hesitant and the half-time score reflected this. It rested at 5 goals to Azerbaijan Land of Fire and nothing in reply from Flexjet, with just a half goal handicap advantage on the scoreboard. The second half was a different matter with Flexjet finding their snow form, scoring three goals in the second half. However, it was a case of too little too late, and Azerbaijan Land of Fire capitalized on their early success to bag a 5 to 3.5 win.
The second match was a family affair with World Polo League led by Melissa Ganzi, the first ever woman to win the tournament back in 2019, joined by her son Grant. Meanwhile, in opposition, Spencer McCarthy and his son James joined St. Moritz stalwarts and five times tournament winners, Max Charlton and Nacho Gonzalez.
St. Moritz began with a 1.5 goal handicap advantage, but World Polo League’s Melissa, showing her experience on the ice and keeping a cool head, calmly scored from the penalty spot to get World Polo League onto the scoreboard. St. Moritz finally found their form in the fourth chukka, taking the lead for the first time in the match with just three and a half minutes left. World Polo League, on the other hand, were unable to reply—and Nacho Gonzalez and his teammates bagged him the best birthday present with a win in their opening match.
To end a perfect day of adrenaline-fueled action, the last two teams took to the frozen lake to do battle. The man that can, Nic Roldan, opened up the scoring for Clinique La Prairie with an impressive field goal. He followed it up with another 3 goals to single handedly notch up the winning 4 goals for his team. The Kusnacht Practice, while strong individually, with the highest handicapped player in the tournament—Alejo Taranco impressive at back, kept the pressure on throughout. However, they didn’t quite find their groove in time and notched up only 3 goals in reply.
