Empire State Winter Games officially open

LAKE PLACID | The 2022 Empire State Winter Games officially began Thursday night in a return for the event after a year's absence due to the worldwide pandemic. About 1,000 athletes and as many spectators attended the spirited ceremony held on frozen Mirror Lake in the middle of a snowstorm predicted to drop as many as five to seven inches by the next morning. The 42nd Games, sponsored by Community Bank N.A., have drawn close to 1,800 participants to compete in 30 sports from Friday, Feb. 4 through Sunday, Feb. 6. The Games represent the biggest event hosted by Lake Placid and the surrounding area since 2020's Games, held just before the pandemic shutdown. The Opening Ceremony, fittingly for a winter Games, was held outdoors under floodlights in driving snow and involved figure skaters, a dogsled team and a toboggan chute. The event was highlighted by the lighting of the Games' cauldron by Athlete of the Year Amanda Demmerle, 18, a figure skater from Camillus, who has overcome four significant injuries to her knees and ankles to continue in the sport. She also spreads her love for the sport by coaching and teaching skaters at her local club in Cortland. Saranac Lake's Chris Mazdzer, a former Empire State Winter Games competitor recently named to his fourth Olympic team in luge, sent a message via the big screen from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. "I really wish I was here with you this weekend to share all of the experiences you're about to have," he said. "I'm currently getting ready for the upcoming Olympics. Have fun, compete hard and be proud about everything you've already accomplished." He was joined from Beijing by former Lake Placid resident Katie Million, general manager of the U.S. women's Olympic hockey team, which opened defense of its gold medal with a 5-2 win over Finland earlier in the day. The Beijing Olympics was set to open the same day. Said Million: "The Empire State Winter Games is an awesome, awesome competition and congratulations for making it to this event. I wanted to wish you the best of luck. Enjoy Lake Placid, it holds a very special place in my heart, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do." Ashley Walden, Adirondack Sports Council executive director, 2002 Olympian in luge, is also an ESWG alum. "I know first-hand the impact that the Empire State Winter Games has had on athletes of all levels," she told the crowd from the stage at the Lake Placid Public Beach. "It has been a part of each of their athletic journeys just as it will be a part of your own. Less than one year from now Lake Placid will host the FISU World University Games and solidify its place in history as not only an Olympic city but a University Games city." The ceremony included athletes and officials' oaths, New York State Troop B color guard and the national anthem, and concluded with athletes – mostly teenagers and younger -- participating in a TikTok dance and light party hosted by DJ Mr. Viva. Games competitors did not have to go far for inspiration on Mirror Lake, steps away from the site of medal ceremonies for the 1980 Winter Olympics, where athletes including speed skater Eric Heiden received his five gold medals. Demmerle lit the cauldron that represented the culmination of a six-day, 700-mile torch relay that began in Buffalo and New York City Jan. 29 and included some 50 stops in communities along the way. On Thursday afternoon, the torch arrived in Lake Placid, where it stopped for a presentation at Community Bank on Saranac Ave. and was carried by a team of hockey players to the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort. It was then skated on the lake by a figure skater, handed off for a ride down the toboggan slide, then taken via dogsled before Demmerle's final leg of the trip, weaving through the throngs of athletes grouped by sport, before she climbed the steps and lit the cauldron. This final leg of the journey was photographed live by drone and shown on the ceremony's big screen. The Games, with competitions in Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake and Paul Smiths, include competitions ranging from adaptive sports (including sled hockey, Nordic skiing and biathlon) to Alpine skiing, figure skating, sliding sports (bobsled, luge, skeleton), ski jumping snowshoe races, winter biking, ski orienteering, hockey and figure skating. Medals were handed out in adaptive bobsled and skeleton events held Wednesday in advance of the storm. The Games will also feature an Athletes Village in Mid's Park off Main Street in downtown Lake Placid, with a big screen showing athlete interviews and action from the Beijing Winter Olympics, where ESWG alumni are competing; hot chocolate; music; a photo booth and Stewart Shop's mascot Flavor the Cow. For more information, including sport schedule and results, visit empirestatewintergames.com.

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Empire State Winter Games officially open

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