The 25th Winter Olympics will be held in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
About 3,500 athletes will participate in 116 events, 16 disciplines, with the event staged over 19 days.
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Here’s all to know before the Games:
When do the Winter Olympics start?
The Winter Olympics officially begin on Friday.
The first qualifying rounds begin on Wednesday, with the first medals awarded on Saturday.
The games will conclude with the closing ceremony at the Verona Olympic Arena on February 22.
When and where will the opening ceremony take place?
The Olympics will be officially launched at the opening ceremony on Friday.
For the first time, the ceremony will take place across multiple locations, with the main action centred around Milan’s iconic 80,000-seat San Siro Stadium, home of the city’s two famous football clubs, AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Celebrations will also take place in Predazzo, Livigno, and Cortina d’Ampezzo, where delegations will parade in the areas of their respective competitions.
The opening ceremony includes a lineup of popular Italian and international artists, including American pop star Mariah Carey.
About 60,000 spectators are expected to attend the ceremony.
Which cities are hosting the Milan-Cortina Games?
The Winter Games will take place against the stunning backdrop of two main hubs: Milan, the second-most populous city in Italy, and Cortina, an upscale winter resort in the Dolomites mountain range in the Alps.
With additional events held elsewhere across the north of the country, Milan-Cortina 2026 will be the most spread-out Winter Games in history.
The games are divided into four main clusters:
Milan
Valtellina (Bormio, Valdisotto and Livigno)
Cortina (including Anterselva/Antholz)
Val di Fiemme (Predazzo, Tesero)
Verona will also be involved, hosting the closing ceremony and then the opening of the Paralympics on March 6.
Italy is hosting the Olympics for the fourth time overall; it hosted the Winter Games in 1956 and 2006, and the Summer Games in 1960.
How to watch the Winter Olympics?
The official Olympic media rights holders will broadcast the games in several countries.
The list of broadcasters includes Peacock and NBC Olympics in the United States, CBC Gem and TOU.tv in Canada, the BBC and Discovery+ in the United Kingdom, and NRK and HBO Max in Norway, among others.
What are the key events to watch at the Winter Olympics?
Alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, figure skating, ski jumping and ice hockey are some of the important events at the Winter Games.
The freestyle snowboarding events (Slopestyle, Big Air and Halfpipe) featuring iconic athletes like Mark McMorris, Scotty James and Marcus Kleveland, are also widely watched by younger audiences.
Are there any new or returning Olympic sports in 2026?
Ski mountaineering, often referred to as “skimo”, will make its Olympic debut in Milan-Cortina 2026, with sprint races for men and women and a mixed relay.
What are the events at the 2026 Winter Olympics?
The Winter Games 2026 will feature eight sports and 16 disciplines:
Alpine skiing
Biathlon
Bobsleigh
Cross-country skiing
Curling
Figure skating
Freestyle skiing
Ice hockey
Luge
Nordic combined
Short track speed skating
Skeleton
Ski jumping
Ski mountaineering
Snowboard
Speed skating
Who are the top athletes to watch at the 2026 Winter Olympics?
Alpine skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn leads the US contingent heading to the Olympics, as the 41-year-old aims to add to her medal tally of one gold and two bronzes. Vonn crashed in her final pre-Winter Olympics race in Crans-Montana, but she hopes to recover from her injury.
Mikaela Shiffrin, widely regarded as the greatest alpine skier of all time, and two-time gold medallist snowboarder Chloe Kim, are the other high-profile Americans, alongside figure skater Ilia Malinin, the self-named “Quad God”, poised for gold and stardom at the games.
Reigning gold medallist Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan and in-form Slovenian Domen Prevc are favourites in ski jumping events, while freestyle skier Eileen Gu, a two-time Olympic champion, will be in the spotlight again as China’s most prominent athlete at the Olympics.
Fans should also keep an eye on Team USA and Team Canada – the leading contenders for ice hockey gold – with National Hockey League (NHL) players set to return to the Olympic ice for the first time since the Sochi 2014 Games.
NHL legend Sidney Crosby of Canada will headline several superstar players taking part in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Which countries are expected to dominate the medal table?
Norway’s medal tally of 39 at the PyeongChang 2018 Games was the highest of any nation at a Winter Olympics. The Norwegians also topped the charts at the 2022 Games in Beijing with 37 and are again expected to dominate in Milan-Cortina 2026.
Norway, however, can expect stern competition from the usual heavyweights, the USA, China, Germany and Canada.
What is the gender ratio at the Winter Olympics?
Milan-Cortina 2026 will be the most gender-balanced Winter Games in history, with the quota of places for female athletes up to more than 47 percent from 45.4 percent at Beijing 2022.
There will also be a record number of 50 women’s events at these games.
Who are the mascots?
The Milan-Cortina mascots are brother-and-sister act Tina (the Olympic mascot) and Milo (the Paralympic mascot). Tina is short for Cortina, and Milo is short for Milan.
The pair will be joined by a team of six snowdrops, named “The Flo”.
Why is ICE involved in security at the 2026 Winter Olympics?
Competing nations often bring their own security personnel. In that vein, the US Department of State has stated that several federal agencies, including the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will help protect the visiting Americans, as they have in past Olympics.
ICE and Border Patrol agents have drawn heavy criticism in the US over their enforcement of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with images of their actions shocking many in Italy, traditionally a close US ally.
Detailing a comprehensive security plan for the Winter Games, Italy emphasised that it will maintain control over all operations.
In a statement, the Ministry of Interior said ICE staffers would only work in US diplomatic offices such as the Milan consulate, and “not on the ground”. It added, “All security operations on Italian territory remain, as always, under the exclusive responsibility and direction of the Italian authorities.”
How much will the 2026 Winter Olympics cost?
Milan-Cortina 2026 is currently budgeted at 5.2 billion euros ($6.17bn) overall, comprising 3.5 billion euros ($4.15bn) of public money for infrastructure and 1.7 billion euros ($2.02bn) in private funds to organise and hold the games.
According to a January report by the Reuters news agency, the Italian government expects two million visitors and a global audience of more than three billion, predicting lasting economic benefits for local communities through tourism and improved transport links.
“The total investment amounted to 3.5 billion euros ($4.15bn), but according to several studies, revenues will exceed 5.3 billion ($6.29bn),” Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said.
