2026 Winter Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXV Olympic Winter Games (Les XXVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; XXV Giochi olimpici invernali), and commonly known as Milano Cortina 2026 or Milan Cortina 2026, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event that is scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo beat another joint bid from Swedish cities Stockholm–Åre by 47–34 votes to be elected host cities at the 134th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 June 2019.

This will be the fourth Olympic Games hosted in Italy and the first hosted in Milan. It will mark the 20th anniversary of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo and the 80th anniversary of the Italian Republic. This will also be the first Olympic Games featuring two host cities in its name.

Host city selection
Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo was elected 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 in this host city election under the rules of the Olympic Charter.

Criteria
A firm criterion for the Winter Olympics is the availability of adequate alpine skiing venues, which narrows down potential locations significantly. The men's downhill requires a minimum vertical drop of 800 m, with a course length of around 3 km. Bormio and Cortina are notable regular stops on the World Cup circuit for men's and women's downhills, respectively.

For the 2026 Winter Olympics, the IOC allowed a longer distance between events, so that alpine skiing can be held in a mountain area, and indoor sports such as ice hockey and figure skating can be held in a large city more than 160 km away, where such arenas are already available or have greater usage after the games.

A certain spectator capacity is required, most often 10,000, but varies according to the particular sport. Furthermore, certain VIP areas are required at every venue.

National Hockey League (NHL) commissioner Gary Bettman has stated that NHL players are unlikely to be included if the Winter Games are held outside of North America.

Milan Cluster

 * San Siro Stadium – opening ceremony
 * Mediolanum Forum – figure skating, short track
 * PalaItalia Santa Giulia – main ice hockey venue (planned despite the games)
 * PalaLido – second ice hockey venue
 * Piazza del Duomo - Medal Plaza

Valtellina Cluster

 * Stelvio slope, Bormio – alpine skiing
 * Mottolino/Sitas-Tagliede/Carosello 3000, Livigno – snowboarding, freestyle skiing

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cluster

 * Olimpia delle Tofane slope, Cortina d'Ampezzo – alpine skiing (technical resort is in construction for FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2021)
 * Pista Eugenio Monti, Cortina – bobsleigh, luge and skeleton (modernisation and lighting works)
 * Stadio Olimpico Del Ghiaccio, Cortina – curling
 * South Tyrol Arena, Antholz – biathlon

Val di Fiemme Cluster

 * Stadio del salto "Giuseppe Dal Ben", Predazzo – ski jumping, nordic combined (wind net required)
 * Lago di Tesero Cross Country Stadium, Tesero – cross-country skiing, nordic combined
 * Ice Rink Piné, Baselga di Piné – speed skating (venue to be rebuilt)

Verona

 * Verona Arena – closing ceremony

Broadcasting rights
This is the first Olympic Winter Games to be broadcast by JTBC in North and South Korea. It is RAI will be the host network for the Games in Italy for the second time.
 * 🇧🇷 Brazil – Grupo Globo
 * 🇯🇵 Japan – Japan Consortium
 * 🇰🇵 North Korea – JTBC
 * 🇰🇷 South Korea – JTBC
 * 🇺🇸 United States – NBCUniversal