SANKT MORITZ 1928
- 11–19 December 1928
- 14 official medal events.
- 463 competitors from 25 countries.
- Finnish team: 25 athletes (18 participated in official events).
The Sankt Moritz Games of 1928 were the first Olympic Winter Games officially recognised as such. Speed skaters led the Finnish team again in terms of success. Clas Thunberg won two gold medals to raise his overall Olympic tally to five. In the 5,000 metres Finland had to contend with Julius Skutnabb’s silver, as Thunberg had to skate in blizzard conditions. The 10,000-metre race fell victim to even worse weather: the competition was stopped and then cancelled altogether as the ice melted from under the skaters. The same heat wave wreaked havoc in the 50-kilometre skiing race, where only the Swedes had anticipated the sudden change of weather and made the right choice of ski wax. The best result of Finnish skiers in Sankt Moritz was Veli Saarinen’s fourth place in the 18 kilometres. This was to remain the only time Finland was left without an Olympic skiing medal until 2002. Paavo Nuotio finished fourth in the Nordic combined while Ludowika and Walter Jakobsson gave one last performance to place fifth in the pairs skating competition. As in Chamonix, Finland finished second in military patrol skiing, but that competition did not belong to the official Olympic program.
