Winter Olympics 2026: Dates, Location, and All Sports
From February 6 to 22, the XXV Winter Olympic Games will be held in the cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy. Athletes will compete for 116 sets of medals in 8 sports. Italy is hosting the Olympic Games for the third time in history – the competitions were previously held in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo and in 2006 in Turin.
The opening ceremony of the competitions will take place on February 6 at the "San Siro" football stadium in Milan, the first medals will be contested on February 7, and the closing ceremony will be held on February 22 at the "Arena di Verona." For more details on the schedule and sports at the 2026 Olympics, read our preview.
Background
Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were chosen as the host cities for the jubilee Winter Olympic Games in the summer of 2019, surpassing the bid from Stockholm and Åre (Sweden) in the International Olympic Committee vote. For the first time in Olympic history, the competitions will officially be hosted by two cities.
Moreover, the Games will be only the third in the 21st century to be hosted by a European country after Turin, Italy (2006) and Sochi, Russia (2014). The last two tournaments were held in Asia – in Pyeongchang, South Korea (2018) and Beijing, China (2022).
Sports
At the previous 2022 Olympics, athletes competed for 109 sets of awards in 7 sports. In Italy, more awards will be contested: 116 sets of medals in 8 sports.
- biathlon;
- bobsleigh;
- curling;
- skating sports;
- skiing sports;
- luge;
- ski mountaineering;
- hockey.
For the first time at the 2026 Games, spectators will see competitions in ski mountaineering. This new sport was added to the Olympic program in 2021.
Among the new disciplines in which athletes will compete for the title of Olympic champion are parallel moguls (freestyle), women's doubles (luge), women's large hill (ski jumping), mixed team events (skeleton). One discipline was removed after 2022 – mixed team events in parallel giant slalom (alpine skiing).
Schedule
The qualifying events for the Olympic Games will begin on February 4 – two days before the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Games. The first sets of medals will be contested on February 7. On the final day of the Olympics, 4 sets of medals will be contested, and the closing ceremony of the competitions will take place.
Below is the current schedule for the 2026 Olympic Games.
Also read on our blog: more articles about the 2026 Winter Olympics
