2026 Olympic Games: Closing ceremony lights up historic Arena di Verona to mark end of 17-day Winter Games

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The 2026 Milano-Cortina Games officially come to an end today with more Olympic history: a closing ceremony inside a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The show inside the Olympic Arena in Verona, the city where Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is set, will host the celebration at 2:30 p.m. ET.

The two cauldrons in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo will be extinguished before the Olympic flag is lowered and passed to the host of the 2030 Winter Games: France.

Here's what else to know:

Who's carrying the flag for Canada?: Two Québécois speed-skating heroes: triple-medallist Valérie Maltais and short-track champion Steven Dubois.

Who's performing?: Italian singer-songwriter Achille Lauro, actor Benedetta Porcaroli and DJ Gabry Ponte will all take the stage.

Now the athletes are all seated, there's an acrobatic tribute to the perseverance in the pursuit of excellence. It's called "the beauty of the challenge" and focuses on athletes' pushing through the last exhausted moments of their events.

Performing now as the athletes walk inside are Davide Shorty and Margherita Vicario with Calibro 35.

Canada is in the building! The athletes are now making their way inside the stadium.

Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo wins record 6th gold medal at a single Winter Olympics

Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo swept the cross-country skiing events by winning the men's 50-kilometre mass start race, as he becomes the first athlete to win six gold medals at a single Winter Games.

Cross-country phenom Johannes Høsflot Klæbo carried Norway's flag alongside speed skater Aurora Grinden Løvås

Klæbo secured his place in Winter Olympic history throughout the Games — winning a record six gold medals.

Team Canada almost always wears some variation of red and white during the opening and closing ceremonies, but tradition has gone out the window tonight. The Olympians' closing ceremony kits are "an unmissable glacier green-blue iridescent hue," inspired by harsh Canadian winters.

Figure skater Piper Gillies, who worked with Lululemon on its designs, said she expected the moody shade to be "one of the most talked-about looks in Milan."

After making a 12,000-kilometre journey, the Olympic flame has arrived in Verona to mark the end of the Winter Games.

Milano Cortina had two cauldrons that kept the flame lit throughout the last 17 days. One in Milan, the heart of the Games, and the other in Cortina d'Ampezzo, which is nestled in the Dolomites.

These were the most spread out Winter Games in Olympic history.

The athletes will take a lap around the arena before finding their seats in the stands. The volunteers are wearing old stage costumes used by the Fondazione Arena di Verona.

The ski team lights the Olympic rings with the "drop of fire," and it's finally time for the athletes to come inside. The parade is split into two parts: the delegations' flags first, then the athletes.

The Olympic flame has arrived. The Italian cross-country skiing relay team at Lillehammer 1994 — Maurilio De Zolt, Marco Albarello and Silvio Fauner — are carrying it in an ampoule, created by renowned Venetian glassmaker Lino Tagliapietra.

All 30 athletes who won medals for Italy have walked into the arena now and are standing on the stage as the Italian flag is raised.

Italy delivered its best Winter Games showing ever and did so on home soil. It won 10 gold and 30 total medals, the second most successful performance by a host country in Winter Olympic history.

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