At the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (; ; ; ) and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948 (; ), were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the ...

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in 1948, the last

military patrol Military patrol is a team winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Formerly ski mountaineering was also part of the sport. It is usually contested between countries or milit ...

competition was held as a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration sport ...

. This was in part due to the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, which decimated

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. This sport would be superseded by the

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...

competition which debuted at the

1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Valley ...

. The cross-country ski run was not prepared and was made by the leading Swiss team. The Czechoslovak participant Karel Dvořák described the weather of the day as extremely mild with temperatures of about at the starting point at the upper cableway station () on top of the

Corviglia Corviglia is a location on the eastern slopes of Piz Nair, overlooking St. Moritz in the canton of Graubünden. It lies on the watershed between the rivers Schlattain (Val Saluver) and the Ovel da la Resgia (ending in Lake St. Moritz), at an ...

in the morning. The participants wore military equipment, of baggage on the back and a military rifle. Only the officers, the patrol leaders, had pistols and did not compete in shooting. At the shooting range they had to shoot on three rubber balloons at a distance of . Every hit gave a bonus of 1 minute for the team. ''Event held on 8 February 1948''

Notes

References

External links

Official report
of the 1948 Olympic Winter Games {{Biathlon at the Winter Olympics Events at the 1948 Winter Olympics 1948 in biathlon 1948 in cross-country skiing 1948 in military history Men's events at the 1948 Winter Olympics

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...