Milano Cortina 2026: Top things to know about next Olympic Winter Games
Your one-stop guide to the next Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in 2026. Discover more about the schedule, athlete gender balance, new events and sports, the venues, and everything else.
Italy is preparing to host its third Olympic Winter Games when the cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo welcome Milano Cortina 2026 in just over three years' time – 70 years after Cortina hosted the 1956 Games and 20 years after Torino 2006.
In February 2026, around 2,900 of the world's best winter sport athletes will gather to compete for 114 sets of medals in eight sports and 16 disciplines.
Many of the events will take place at venues that already regularly host stops on the various winter sports tours.
Here are the top things you need to know as we count down towards the next Winter Olympics.
Milano Cortina 2026 Opening Ceremony, schedule, and event dates
The Opening Ceremony of Milano Cortina 2026 is scheduled to take place on 6 February 2026, with the Closing Ceremony on 22 February 2026.
While the schedule is not yet announced, competition normally begins a few days in advance of the Opening Ceremony.
Gender balance at Milano Cortina 2026
Milano Cortina 2026 is due to be the most gender-balance Olympic Winter Games ever, with more women's events than before.
In June, the International Olympic Committee Executive Board approved the sports and event programme for the Games, which will see 47 per cent female participation.
Of the 2,900 athlete quota spots, some 1,362 will be for women with 1,538 for men. There will be 50 women's events on the programme.
"We have made significant progress to close the gender gap at the Olympic Winter Games," IOC President Thomas Bach said at the time. "We are moving from 40 per cent female participation at Sochi 2014 to 47 per cent in Milano Cortina 2026.
"We are committed to continuing to advance gender equality, and Milano Cortina 2026 will be another key milestone in this endeavour."
New events and sports planned for Milano Cortina 2026
There are 116 events on the calendar for Milano Cortina 2026, although two have only been included provisionally. There are eight new events, with one event removed since Beijing 2022.
Ski mountaineering will make its debut at an Olympic Winter Games after a successful competition held at the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games. Three events will be held in that sport: men's and women's sprints, and a mixed relay.
A mixed team event will also be introduced in skeleton, while separate men's and women's doubles events will be held in luge, replacing the open doubles event.
Dual moguls will be added to the programme in freestyle skiing for both women and men, while women will get an additional individual large hill ski jumping event.
The Alpine skiing mixed team parallel event has been removed as the men and women are due to compete at separate resorts; the two Alpine Combined events are provisional.
Venues of the Milano Cortina 2026 Games
Milano Cortina 2026 will be the first Olympic Games to be hosted in two cities, Milano and Cortina, two regions, Lombardia and Veneto, and two Autonomous Provinces, Trento e Bolzano, covering a total area of 22,000 km2. It will be the most geographically widespread Olympic Winter Games in history.
More than 90% of the venues to be used in 2026 already exists or will be temporary.
The main Olympic stadium, which will host the Opening Ceremony, is the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium – more commonly known as the San Siro, and home of the AC Milan and Internazionale Milano football clubs; the Arena of Verona – a Roman amphitheatre dating back two thousand years – will host the Closing Ceremony.
Alpine skiing will be split across two slopes, with the Olympia delle Tofane welcoming the women's skiers and the Stelvio Slope in Bormio the men. Bormio will also hold ski mountaineering events.
Biathlon will take place in Rasen-Antholz, which already hosts an annual stop on the World Cup of that sport; sliding sports will take place on the Eugenio Monti track which also hosted events in 1956; and curling will be held at Cortina's Olympic Ice Stadium, which was the main stadium in 1956. Ski Jumping, Nordic combined, and Cross Country skiing competitions will take place in Van di Fiemme.
Milan will host ice hockey, short track, and figure skating; snowboard and freestyle skiing will be held in Livigno.
Milano Cortina 2026 official song
In March, Milano Cortina 2026 unveiled its official song, titled Fino all'alba – which translates as "Until Dawn".
The song, which will be used for both the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, is performed by Arisa.
It won 72 per cent of votes in a contest held on the Milano Cortina 2026 website.
Official mascots of Milano Cortina 2026
The Games' official mascots will be revealed by the end of 2023.
In February, Italian schools and students took part in a competition to inspire the character's design, with the public able to express their preference.