Milano Cortina 2026: What are the main Olympic qualifiers that take place in 2025?
Don’t let the lack of an Olympic Games fool you, 2025 is still a busy year for athletes looking to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. Read on to learn more.
The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 are getting closer by the day. With just over a year to go until the winter sports extravaganza, the world’s best athletes are preparing to achieve their dreams on a global scale.
Of course, before any athlete can approach the starting line at the Olympic Winter Games, they must first earn the right to compete at the world’s largest winter sports event.
To do so, they must qualify through a process outlined by every international federation and agreed upon by the International Olympic Committee.
There is no guarantee of success, but the prospect of competing at the Olympics serves as the ultimate motivator for many athletes.
Years of dedication, personal sacrifice and athletic perseverance are tested, with only the best of the best earning a quota place for their NOC. It’s a cutthroat process, but one that adds an extra layer of intrigue to the Olympic Games.
With a handful of direct qualification events scheduled for the winter and autumn of 2025, there’s no shortage of exciting competitions for fans to look forward to on the road to Milano Cortina 2026.
Sweden take on Canada in the Beijing 2022 women's ice hockey competition
Ice Hockey: Women’s qualification tournaments take centre stage
The year will begin with a bang, or rather, a crash into the boards, with women’s ice hockey dominating headlines during the Final Olympic Qualification Tournaments from 6-9 February.
Split into three distinct groups, 12 national teams will battle over three Olympic quota places in the rough-and-tumble sport of ice hockey. The highest-ranked team in each group will leave the tournament with an Olympic quota place, while the remaining three teams will return home empty-handed.
Japan, Sweden and Germany will each host one of the groups due to their status as the highest-ranked non-qualified teams through the 2024 IIHF World Ranking. The composition of each group was determined by the aforementioned world ranking, and a trio of prior qualification tournaments for lower-ranked teams. The groups are as follows:
Group G - Japan, People’s Republic of China, France, and Poland
Group H - Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands
Group I - Germany, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia
Click here to learn more about the qualification process in ice hockey for Milano Cortina 2026.
Ilya Malinin of the USA
Figure Skating: A double-header of direct qualification events
As if the nerve-wracking nature of ice hockey’s Final Olympic Qualification Tournaments wasn’t stressful enough for athletes and fans alike, figure skating will crank the qualification dial up to 10, with a pair of direct qualification events scheduled to take place in 2025.
Beginning with the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2025 in Boston, USA from 24-30 March, skaters will attempt to earn their NOCs an Olympic quota through their individual placement in the single, pairs and ice dance events.
There will be a large number of athlete quotas available in each of the four events at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2025: 24 for men's single skating, 24 for women's single skating, 16 pairs for pair skating (32 athletes) and 19 couples for ice dance (38 athletes).
Skaters who fail to snag a quota for their NOC at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2025 will be given a second chance in the autumn at the ISU Figure Skating Qualifying Competition in Beijing, People's Republic of China from 17-21 September.
On this occasion, any remaining athlete quotas will be allocated to the highest-ranked skaters in each event, respecting the maximum number of athlete quotas available in each event: 29 for men's single skating, 29 for women's single skating, 19 pairs for pair skating (38 athletes) and 23 couples for ice dance (46 athletes).
Click here to learn more about the qualification process in figure skating for Milano Cortina 2026.
Bruce Mouat of Team GB curling
Curling: A trifecta of world championships with Olympic implications
Not to be left out of the Olympic qualification party, curling will offer its own set of thrilling qualification events in 2025.
First up on the docket are a trio of World Championships with a direct effect on quota allocations for Milano Cortina 2026. The dates and location of each world championship competition are as follows:
- World Women’s Curling Championship 2025: 15-23 March in Uijeongbu, Republic of Korea
- World Men’s Curling Championship 2025: 29 March to 6 April in Moose Jaw, Canada
- World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2025: 26 April to 3 May in Fredericton, Canada
While a top placement alone won’t be enough to guarantee qualification to the Olympics, it will go a long way towards a quota.
The eight highest ranked NOCs, according to the combined ranking determined by each team’s placements at the respective 2024 and 2025 World Championships, in each event - men’s team, women’s team and mixed doubles - will earn a quota place for Milano Cortina 2026.
The autumn and winter months of 2025 will also be full of qualification activity, with the men’s and women’s Pre-Qualification Events and men’s, women’s and mixed doubles Olympic Qualification Events deciding the final two quotas in each event.
Click here to learn more about the qualification process in curling for Milano Cortina 2026.
Ski Mountaineering: History in the making
There will certainly be plenty of intrigue surrounding ski mountaineering ahead of Milano Cortina 2026, with the sport making its much-anticipated debut at the world’s greatest celebration of winter sport.
Of course, before any history can be made at the Stelvio Ski Centre, athletes must first qualify to compete at the Olympic Winter Games.
The quest for an Olympic place will begin at the 2025 ISMF World Championships in Morgins, Switzerland from 2-9 March. There, athletes will compete to earn quotas in all three events on the Olympic programme - men’s sprint, women’s sprint and mixed relay.
With a limited number of Olympic quotas available in each event - four (two men and two women) in the mixed relay, two in the women’s sprint and two in the men’s sprint - competition will be fierce.
Athletes who miss out on a quota place through the world championships will have a second chance to qualify for Milano Cortina 2026 via the Olympic Mixed Relay Ranking List and Olympic Sprint Ranking List, which will be published on 23 December.
Click here to learn more about the qualification process in ski mountaineering for Milano Cortina 2026.
Cross-country Skiing: A make-or-break World Championship performance
For many cross-country skiers, there will be few competitions as pivotal as the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2025 or FIS Under-23 Nordic World Ski Championships 2025.
The qualification hopes of many athletes will be realised or crushed at both competitions, which serve as a major step on the qualification pathway for Milano Cortina 2026.
Athletes looking to claim a “basic quota” for their NOC, as outlined in the qualification system for cross-country skiing at Milano Cortina 2026, will need to register a valid result in any event at either of the two competitions that satisfy minimum eligibility requirements to remain in the hunt for an Olympic quota place.
Male athletes will need to achieve a result equal to or less than 300.00 FIS points (including penalty) in at least one individual event at either of the two competitions, with female athletes required to score 330.00 FIS points (including penalty) or less in at least one individual event at either of the two competitions.
NOCs with athletes who fail to meet the minimum eligibility requirements for a “basic quota” at either competition might be able to secure an Olympic quota place through the FIS Cross-Country Nations Rankings 2024-2025, provided athletes satisfy the athlete eligibility requirements outlined in the qualification system.
Click here to learn more about the qualification process in cross-country skiing for Milano Cortina 2026.
Rankings galore: short track, speed skating, bobsleigh, skeleton, luge, biathlon
While there may not be direct qualification competitions in every winter sport, 2025 will still be an important year for athletes looking to qualify for Milano Cortina 2026 via individual or team ranking lists.
This will be the primary method of qualification for athletes competing in Alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, luge, skeleton, short track speed skating and speed skating.
