XXV Olympic Winter Games
2026 Winter Olympics logo
Emblem of the 2026 Winter Olympics
Host cityMilan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
MottoSognando insieme (English: Dreaming together)
Events116 in 8 sports
Opening6 February 2026
Closing22 February 2026
StadiumSan Siro (opening ceremony)
Verona Arena (closing ceremony)
Winter
Summer
2026 Winter Paralympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics (Italian: 2026 Olimpiadi invernali), officially the XXV Olympic Winter Games (Italian: XXV Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Milano-Cortina 2026, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The joint bid from the two cities beat another joint bid from Swedish cities Stockholm–Åre by 47–34 votes at the 134th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 June 2019.[1][2][3]

This will be the fourth Olympic Games hosted in Italy, which previously hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo and the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. It will be the first Olympic Games officially featuring multiple host cities and will be the first Winter Olympics since Sarajevo 1984 where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held in different venues. Events will also take place in seven other north-northeastern Italian cities. The games will mark the 20th anniversary of the Winter Olympics in Turin and the 70th anniversary of the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo. It will follow the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and precede the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

Bidding process

Host city selection

Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were selected as the host cities on 24 June 2019 at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland. The three Italian IOC members, Franco Carraro, Ivo Ferriani and Giovanni Malagò, and two Swedish IOC members, Gunilla Lindberg and Stefan Holm, were ineligible to vote as stated in the Olympic Charter.

2026 Winter Olympics bidding results[4]
City Nation Votes
Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo  Italy 47
Stockholm–Åre  Sweden 34
One abstention[4]

Development and preparations

Speed Skating venue selection

During the bid process, the bidding Committee proposed that the speed skating events could be held at the existing Ice Rink Piné in Baselga di Pinè. However, despite the infrastructure being ready, it required a roof which impact and cost studies indicated would be very expensive, potentially breaking the budget. So instead, the Committee deliberated over three choices: building a temporary or a permanent ice rink in the pavilions of Fiera Milano, options that would require significant structural work, or move the events to the Oval Lingotto in the city of Turin which required no structural changes.The venue was constructed to host the speed skating during the 2006 Winter Olympics and after the games, hosted a variety of events such as exhibitions, fairs and conferences.The venue was also used at 2007 Winter Universiade to host the same sport and also will host the same event in 2025. In April 2023, it was estimated that the temporary ice rink in Fiera Milano would cost nearly €20 million, which would be paid for with private funds. The proposal to use Turin's Oval Lingotto received opposition from Milan-area officials, including Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala and officials from the host regions of Lombardy and Veneto.[5] Fiera Milano was confirmed as the speed skating venue on 19 April 2023.[6][7]

Concerns about sliding sports

During the bidding process, the joint Committee proposed to restore the iconic Eugenio Monti olympic track in Cortina, to be relaunched as a federal centre also for sledding and skeleton.[8] The minimum cost of restoring the closed track was initially estimated at about €14 million, while in the official Milan-Cortina bid dossier the cost indicated was €100 million (similar budget needed to build the Cesana Pariol track used at the 2006 Winter Olympics).[9] After initially forecasting an expenditure of €40-50 million, the Veneto Region allocated funding up to €85 million to build the new Olympic venues. An annual expenditure of €400,000 was also planned for the management of the facility, which would be open four months a year, to be settled through the establishment of €8 million fund.[10] Due to the rising cost of construction materials,Veneto region president Luca Zaia turned public in February 2023 that the restoring cost for the Eugenio Monti track could be have biggest costs than €120 million.[11] Calling for tenders to award the work, no company came forward with a bid by the 31 July 2023 deadline;[12] even after that, no company interested in carrying out the work could be found, both for economic reasons and because of the difficulty to complete all works before the start of the Olympics.[13] Due to critical issues, costs and prohibitive times for the total renovation of Cortina track, the mayor of Innsbruck, Austria made a proposal for the use of Igls Olympic Sliding Centre.[14] On 16 October 2023 the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) announced that the track will not be rebuilt to host the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, and the sliding events could be held outside of Italy.[15] However, the current Italian government wanted the sliding events to remain in Italy, so they are currently studying the possibility to revamp the Cesana Pariol track which hosted the events at the 2006 Winter Olympics, which has been dormant since 2011.[16]

Venues

San Siro Stadium in Milan and Verona Arena will be venues of opening and closing ceremonies respectively.

The Milan-Cortina 2026 proposal involved many of the competition venues used during the 2013 Winter Universiade (Val di Fiemme), held in the province of Trentino and those infrastructures that were still in use that were also used in the 1956 Winter Olympics also held in Cortina D'Ampezzo. All the ice events with the exception of curling will be held in venues in Milan or their Metropolitan Region. The opening ceremony is scheduled to be held at the San Siro and the closing is to be held at the Verona Arena as the only event scheduled for Verona.

Milan Cluster

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cluster

Valtellina Cluster

  • Pista Stelvio, Bormio alpine skiing and ski mountaineering
  • Mottolino/Sitas-Tagliede/Carosello 3000, Livigno – snowboarding and freestyle skiing

Val di Fiemme Cluster

Verona

Sports

Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each discipline.

On 18 June 2021, the International Olympic Committee proposed that ski mountaineering be included as a sport for the 2026 Winter Olympics. The proposal was approved on 20 July.[17]

On 24 June 2022, the IOC announced the final 2026 program. The alpine mixed team parallel event was removed, and the alpine combined event will now feature a couple (one man and one woman) from each team instead of one as proposed by the FIS.[18] Along with the three ski mountaineering events, five new events have been added to the Olympic program in four sports that were already on the program. In this way, a total of 116 events in eight sports were scheduled.[19]

  • Freestyle skiing: Men's and women's dual moguls.
  • Luge: Women's doubles. There was a reversal of the existing doubles event from open to an exclusively men's event.
  • Ski jumping: Women's large hill individual
  • Ski mountaineering: Men's and Women's sprint, mixed relay
  • Skeleton: Mixed team

Participating National Olympic Committees

The following 8 National Olympic Committees have qualified athletes. Seven qualifiers and the hosts, Italy, were confirmed as entered by the IIHF into their ice hockey tournament with Russia provisionally holding another spot.[20]

Participating National Olympic Committees
  •  Canada (48)
  •  Czech Republic (25)
  •  Finland (25)
  •  Germany (25)
  •  Italy (48) (host)
  •  Sweden (25)
  •  Switzerland (25)
  •  United States (48)

Marketing

Emblem

The official emblems for the 2026 Games was decided through an world online poll that opened on 6 March 2021. The two candidate emblems were unveiled at the Sanremo Music Festival 2021 finals by former Italian Olympic gold medallists Federica Pellegrini and Alberto Tomba and are nicknamed "Dado" and "Futura".[21] They were both designed by Landor Associates.[22] The vote closed on 25 March 2021, with the winning emblem, the "Futura" emblem, was announced on 30 March 2021.[23][24]

Theme song

During the Sanremo Music Festival 2022 finals, the two final candidates for the official anthem of the event were presented, with a poll opening afterward. On 7 March 2022, "Fino all'alba" ("Until the dawn")—composed by the youth music group La Cittadina of the San Pietro Martire in Seveso, and performed during Sanremo by Arisa — was announced as the winner.[25]

Corporate sponsorship

Sponsors of the 2026 Winter Olympics
Worldwide Olympic Partners
Premium Partners
Official Partners
Official Sponsors
Official Supporters

Broadcasting rights

On 16 January 2023, the IOC announced that it had renewed its European broadcast rights agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports to last from 2026 through to 2032. The contract covers pay television and streaming rights to the Summer, Winter, and Youth Olympics on the Eurosport and Discovery+ channels in 49 European territories.[71] Unlike the previous contract where corporate precursor Discovery, Inc. was responsible for sub-licensing them to broadcasters in each country,[72][73] free-to-air rights packages were concurrently awarded to the European Broadcasting Union and its members to cover at least 100 hours of each Winter Olympics.[71] In Italy, domestic rights are handled by the country's public broadcaster RAI[52] and WBD's Italian division.

In the United States, NBC will again broadcast the event as part of its US$7.75 billion contract[74] to air the Olympics through to 2032.[75] Under the National Football League's new media rights agreements that begin in 2023, NBC will also serve as broadcaster of the Super Bowl (which is now rotated among all four of the United States' major commercial FTA networks) during Winter Olympic years that fall under the contract.[76][77]

See also

Notes

    References

    1. ↑ "Lausanne To Host Vote For Winning 2026 Winter Olympic Bid Instead of Milan After Italy Enters Race". GamesBids. 20 September 2018. Archived from the original on 24 April 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
    2. ↑ "IOC To Move Up 2026 Olympic Bid Vote Three Months, Now June 2019". GamesBids. 9 October 2018. Archived from the original on 24 April 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
    3. ↑ "Winter Olympics: Italy's Milan-Cortina bid chosen as host for the 2026 Games". BBC. 24 June 2019. Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
    4. 1 2 "Milan-Cortina awarded the Olympic Winter Games 2026". IOC. 24 June 2019. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
    5. ↑ "Bach to meet Italian PM as Milan Cortina 2026 speed skating venue due to be ratified". 14 April 2023.
    6. ↑ Rowbottom, MIke (19 April 2023). "Milan The Unanimous Choice for Speed Skating at 2026 Winter Olympics". Inside the Games. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
    7. ↑ Ridley, Bob (19 April 2023). "Fiera Milano Rho To Be New Home for Speed Skating at 2026 Winter Olympics". The Stadium Business. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
    8. ↑ Barbara Ungaro. "Olimpiadi 2026: Cortina punta anche la rilancio della pista da bob". Rai TGR.
    9. ↑ Jacopo Ricca (26 August 2018). "A Cortina è vecchia e da rifare la pista da bob scelta dal Coni contro Cesana". Repubblica.
    10. ↑ Alessandra Segafredo (10 August 2021). "Ristruttrazione pista Eugenio Monti: il Bob Club Cortina fa chiarezza". Radio Cortina.
    11. ↑ "Milano-Cortina, Zaia: pista bob costerà 100 milioni ma irrinunciabile". 6 February 2023.
    12. ↑ "Nessuna azienda ha partecipato alla gara per costruire la contestata pista da bob a Cortina per le Olimpiadi invernali del 2026". Il Post. 31 July 2023.
    13. ↑ "Nessuno vuole costruire la pista da bob di Cortina". Il Post. 21 September 2023.
    14. ↑ Mike Rowbottom (9 September 2023). "Innsbruck Mayor invites Milan Cortina 2026 to use Igls track for Winter Olympic sliding events".
    15. ↑ "2026 Winter Olympics: Sliding events to be held outside Italy". BBC. 16 October 2023.
    16. ↑ "Italian Government wants sliding sports to remain in country for Milan Cortina 2026". insidethegames.biz. 23 October 2023.
    17. ↑ Sharma, Hritika. "Ski mountaineering added to 2026 Winter Olympic program". Infobae. Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
    18. ↑ "Alpine Combined To Become Team Event At 2026 Games". www.snowindustrynews.com. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
    19. ↑ "Milano Cortina 2026 set to become the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games in history". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
    20. ↑ "2026 Men's Olympic Winter Games & Qualification Tournament Program" (PDF). IIHF.com. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
    21. ↑ "Milano Cortina 2026 Launch Online Vote to Decide Emblem". International Olympic Committee. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
    22. ↑ "Dal festival di Sanremo Pellegrini e Tomba lanciano 'Dado' o 'Futura', loghi di Milano-Cortina 2026". la Repubblica (in Italian). 6 March 2021. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
    23. ↑ Primavera, Erika (7 March 2021). "Olimpiadi 2026, 'Dado' o 'Futura': ecco il loghi per Milano Cortina" (in Italian). Rome. DIRE. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
    24. ↑ "Milano Cortina 2026, i nuovi simboli. E' 'Futura' il logo scelto, bianco per le olimpiadi, colorato per le paralimpiadi – Sport". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 30 March 2021. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
    25. ↑ Bila, Leticia (7 March 2022). "Milan Cortina 2026 unveils official song after earning 72 per cent of vote". InsideTheGames.biz. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
    26. ↑ "International Olympic Committee and AB InBev announce Worldwide Olympic Partnership". olympics.com/ioc/. 12 January 2023.
    27. ↑ "EBU siguron të drejtat TV të olimpiadave" (in Albanian). RTSH. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
    28. ↑ "IOC announces Infront as exclusive Central and South-East Asia Media Rights-Holder for 2026-2032 period". International Olympic Committee. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
    29. ↑ Palmer, Dan (15 June 2023). "Infront to take over Olympic broadcast rights in Central and South-East Asia from crisis-hit Dentsu". inside the games. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
    30. ↑ Brunsdon, Simon (8 February 2023). "Nine announces Olympic broadcast rights for five Games events". Nine.com.au. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
    31. ↑ "IOC awards Nine exclusive rights in Australia for 2024-2032 Olympic Games". International Olympic Committee. 8 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
    32. ↑ "ORF sichert sich Rechte bis 2032". Sport ORF (in German). 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    33. ↑ "La RTBF diffusera les Jeux OIympiques 2026, 2028, 2030 et 2032". RTBF (in French). 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    34. ↑ "VRT en Sporza verwerven uitzendrechten voor Olympische Spelen 2026 - 2032". VRT (in Dutch). 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    35. ↑ "IOC reaches agreement for broadcast rights in Brazil with Grupo Globo through to 2032". International Olympic Committee. 10 December 2015. Archived from the original on 13 December 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
    36. ↑ "Българската национална телевизия придоби правата за излъчване на Олимпийските игри до 2032 г" (in Bulgarian). BNT. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
    37. ↑ "CBC to remain Canada's home for Olympic coverage through 2032". CBC. Cbc.ca. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
    38. ↑ "IOC awards 2026–2032 broadcast rights in China". International Olympic Committee. 9 September 2021. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
    39. ↑ "HRT osigurao prava prijenosa s olimpijskih igara do 2032" (in Croatian). HRT. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
    40. ↑ "Olympijské hry zůstanou v České televizi až do roku 2032". České televize (in Czech). 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    41. ↑ "TV 2 forlænger OL-rettigheder frem til 2032". TV 2 (in Danish). 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    42. ↑ "IOC awards exclusive 2026-2032 Olympic Games media rights in Europe to European Broadcasting Union and Warner Bros. Discovery". IOC. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    43. ↑ "Eesti Rahvusringhääling omandas olümpiamängude näitamisõigused". ERR (in Estonian). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    44. ↑ "Olympialaiset näkyvät Ylen kanavilla vuoteen 2032 asti". Yle (in Finnish). 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    45. ↑ "Jeux olympiques. France Télévisions et Warner Bros Discovery diffuseront les Jeux jusqu'en 2032". ouest france (in French). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    46. ↑ "Olympische Spiele 2026 bis 2032 bei ARD/ZDF". ZDF (in German). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    47. ↑ "Οι Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες "κλείδωσαν" στην ΕΡΤ έως το 2032" (in Greek). ERT News. 21 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
    48. ↑ "Újabb 8 évre a közmédia kapta az olimpiai játékok közvetítési jogait". VG (in Hungarian). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    49. ↑ "Ólympíuleikar á RÚV til 2032" (in Icelandic). RÚV. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
    50. ↑ "RTÉ Sport secures Olympics rights for next decade". RTÉ. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    51. ↑ "ערוץ הספורט ימשיך לשדר את המשחקים האולימפיים לפחות עד 2032". 8 February 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
    52. 1 2 "Le Olimpiadi fino al 2032 sulla Rai, insieme a Ebu e Discovery". Rai News (in Italian). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    53. ↑ "IOC awards broadcast rights to the Japan Consortium through to 2032". IOC. Olympic.org. 14 November 2019. Archived from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
    54. ↑ "Lojërat Olimpike 2026, 2028, 2030 dhe 2032 do të transmetohen në RTK" (in Albanian). RTK. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
    55. ↑ "Latvijas Televīzija arī turpmāk pārraidīs olimpiskās spēles – tiesības iegūtas līdz 2032. gadam". LTV.lv (in Latvian). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    56. ↑ "Olimpinės žaidynės grįžta į LRT: nuo 2026 metų transliuosime 4 žaidynes". LRT (in Lithuanian). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    57. ↑ Lloyd, Owen (5 December 2021). "Macau's TDM to broadcast Milan Cortina 2026 after agreement with Chinese Media Group". inside the games. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
    58. ↑ "RTCG kao član EBU dobila ekskluzivno pravo na prenos olimpijskih igara" (in Montenegrin). RTCG. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
    59. ↑ "Olympische Spelen blijven tot 2032 bij de NOS te zien". NOS (in Dutch). January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    60. 1 2 "IOC awards 2026–2032 Olympic Games broadcast rights in Korea to JTBC". International Olympic Committee. Olympic.org. 4 June 2019. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
    61. ↑ "OL tilbake på NRK fra 2026". NRK (in Norwegian). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    62. ↑ "Pięć kolejnych igrzysk olimpijskich na antenach Telewizji Polskiej!". TVP Sport (in Polish). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    63. ↑ "Verejnoprávna televízia si udrží olympijské hry minimálne do roku 2032" (in Slovak). 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
    64. ↑ "RTV Slovenija pridobila medijske pravice za olimpijske igre do leta 2032" (in Slovenian). RTVSLO. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
    65. ↑ "El COI otorga derechos exclusivos de medios/emisión en Europa para los JJ.OO. de 2026-2032 a la UER y Warner Bros". RTVE (in Spanish). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    66. ↑ "Klart: SVT köper tillbaka OS-rättigheterna". SVT Sport (in Swedish). 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    67. ↑ "SRG-Sender übertragen alle Olympischen Spiele bis 2032". SRF (in German). 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    68. ↑ "Суспільне Мовлення отримає права на трансляцію чотирьох Олімпійських ігор з 2026 року" (in Ukrainian). Suspilne. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
    69. ↑ "The Olympic Games to remain on the BBC for the next decade". BBC. 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
    70. ↑ "IOC awards Olympic Games broadcast rights to NBCUniversal through to 2032". International Olympic Committee. 7 May 2014. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
    71. 1 2 Roxborough, Scott (16 January 2023). "Warner Bros. Discovery, European Broadcasting Union Secure Olympics Rights in Europe Through 2032". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
    72. ↑ Ourand, John (29 June 2015). "Discovery Lands European Olympic Rights Through '24". sportsbusinessdaily.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
    73. ↑ "BBC dealt another blow after losing control of TV rights for Olympics". The Guardian. 29 June 2015. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
    74. ↑ "Fewer Russians Could Be a Windfall for U.S. Olympic Business". The New York Times. 7 December 2017. Archived from the original on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
    75. ↑ "Olympics on NBC through 2032". USA Today. Gannett Company. 7 May 2014. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
    76. ↑ Gordon, Grant (18 March 2021). "NFL announces new broadcast deals running through 2033 season". NFL.com. Archived from the original on 18 March 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
    77. ↑ Reedy, Joe (18 March 2021). "Super Bowl/Olympics Sunday about to become routine for NBC". ABC News. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
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