Winter Olympics 2026 guide: All you need to know about the Milan–Cortina Games
Posted on: Dec 18, 2025 02:02 IST | Posted by: Hindustantimes
The countdown is on for the 2026 Winter Olympics in italian republic.
The torch relay race is already underway and some of the top out athletes ar already making headlines. There are 16 sports in all, including some never seen before, and 116 gold medals are waiting to be awarded.
This will be the most spread-out Winter Games in history: The two primary competition sites are the city of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the upscale winter resort in the Dolomites that is more than 400 kilometers away by road. Athletes also will compete in three other mountain clusters besides Cortina, while the closing ceremony will be in Verona, 160 km east of Milan.
Get ready for all of the events with this guide of things to know!
Competition runs Feb. 4-22. Here are some of the big days to mark on your calendar:
Feb. 4: Competition begins .
Feb. 6: Opening ceremony.
Feb. 7: First gold medal events.
Feb. 8: Gold medal, women’s Alpine skiing downhill.
Feb. 13: Gold medal, men’s figure skating.
Feb. 18: Gold medal, women’s Alpine skiing slalom.
Feb. 19: Gold medal, women’s figure skating. Gold medal game, women’s ice hockey. First gold medals in ski mountaineering, a new Olympic sport.
Feb. 22: Gold medal game, men’s ice hockey. Closing ceremony.
Dozens of countries will stream or air each day's events, with some delaying broadcasts until primetime depending on the time zone.
That will be the case in the U.S., where Eastern time is six hours behind Milan and Cortina. NBC will carry showcase events at night while streaming sports on Peacock.
Athletes to watch: Two of the most decorated Alpine skiers in history, 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, opened the World Cup season in dominant form, raising American hopes of a golden run in Cortina. Eileen Gu is back in freestyle skiing, as is Chloe Kim in snowboarding. NHL players are back on Olympic ice for the first time since 2014 so watch for the likes of Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid.
Venues: All eyes are on the hockey arenas in Milan, which were still under construction in December; the main rink will be about 3 feet shorter than NHL and PWHL players are used to. And the athletes’ village in Cortina is a set of more than 350 mobile homes.
Russian athletes: Some sports federations are deciding whether to let Russians compete as neutral athletes but only after they are cleared by an independent review process to ensure that they have not publicly supported the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated with Russia’s military or other forces.
What’s new: Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut while skeleton has added a mixed team event, luge has added women’s doubles and large hill ski jumping added women’s and men’s super team events.
Olympics: /hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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