The 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics are quickly approaching. The first event, curling, is set to start on February 4th, prior to the opening ceremony which will begin on February 6th at 2 PM EST. The opening ceremony, themed “Harmony”, will showcase Italy’s uniqueness and unity. Iconic musical artists and Italian natives, Andrea Bocelli and Laura Pausini, are expected to make appearances alongside the five time Grammy award winning American artist, Mariah Carey.
This upcoming Winter Olympics will be co-hosted by two Northern Italian locations: Milano, Italy’s second largest city, and Cortina d’Ampezzo, a well known luxury ski-resort town located in the Italian Dolomites. Milano-Cortina 2026 is not the first Winter Olympics to be hosted by Cortina d’Ampezzo. The 1956 Winter Olympics were held there as well, which sparked Cortina’s international recognition and growth in tourism.
The Olympic events and competitions will take place from February 4th to February 22nd. The events can be categorized into three primary groups: ice sports, Alpine snowboarding and skiing, and Nordic sports. Within these broad categories, freestyle and slopestyle snowboarding, figure skating, ice hockey, and downhill Alpine skiing consistently grab the attention of sports fans from around the world. The event schedule is packed with dozens of unique sports spread throughout the two weeks. PBS News has produced a condensed schedule that highlights popular events, along with their Gold medal rounds, as shown below:
Feb. 4: Competition begins (curling).
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.
NBCUniversal and Peacock will be broadcasting live coverage for at least 5 hours daily. Primetime in Milan hosted by Mike Trico, will start at 8 PM EST daily, and will feature the greatest moments from the past day.
Italy’s time zone, CEST, is 6 hours ahead of EST, and 9 hours ahead of PCT. Therefore, the most popular events will typically take place throughout the early morning to early afternoon within the Eastern United States. This time difference allows for events to be scheduled at times where fan favorite events can be watched by both American and European viewers.
Thousands of world-class athletes compete in the Olympics, many of whom represent the United States of America. Chloe Kim, a California native, began snowboarding at the age of four. She made her Olympic debut as a teenager in the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games where she took home gold for the halfpipe. She won gold again in 2022 at the Beijing Olympics, making her the first female competitor in history to ever win the halfpipe gold medal in consecutive Olympics. Despite currently suffering from a shoulder injury, Kim is expected to bring home nothing less than a gold medal for Team USA during the 2026 games.
Downhill Alpine skier Lindsay Vonn, at 41 years old, will be competing in her 5th Olympic games. Vonn officially announced her retirement from the sport after a decorated career in 2019, but she announced her unexpected return in late 2024 after a successful knee replacement. Vonn is hoping for a successful comeback at her likely final Olympics.
Lastly, dominant and unbeatable male figure skater, Ilia Malinin, is favored to win gold in the men’s singles figure skating, as he is the only figure skater to successfully land a quadruple Axel. Kim, Vonn, and Malini are just a few of the elite athletes competing in Cortina to keep an eye out for.
Nearly 3,000 athletes with unparalleled and rare talent from around the world will come together to represent their nations this winter. Athletes of different skin colors, religions, political beliefs, and backgrounds will be united by an athletic contest. The Olympics are a friendly reminder that something as simple as skiing, or as out of the ordinary as skeleton, can unite a divided world consumed by angst, uncertainty, and conflict.
The complete schedule can be found on nbcolympics.com.
