Winter Olympics 2026: How to watch and key things to know about the Milan Cortina Games

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Kaillie Armbruster Humphries of the United States speeds down the course during a women's monobob World Cup race and Olympic test event in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

FILE -Italy's Stefania Constantini, directs her team mate, during the mixed doubles curling match against Sweden, at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 6, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File) — Kaillie Armbruster Humphries of the United States speeds down the course during a women's monobob World Cup race and Olympic test event in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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1:31 PM on Wednesday, December 17

By The Associated Press

The countdown is on for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

The torch relay is already underway and some of the top athletes are already making headlines. There are 16 sports in all, including some never seen before, and 116 gold medals are waiting to be awarded.

This will be the most spread-out Winter Games in history: The two primary competition sites are the city of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the upscale winter resort in the Dolomites that is more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) away by road. Athletes also will compete in three other mountain clusters besides Cortina, while the closing ceremony will be in Verona, 160 km (100 miles) east of Milan.

Get ready for all of the events with this guide of things to know!

Key dates to know

Competition runs Feb. 4-22. Here are some of the big days to mark on your calendar:

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.

How to watch

Dozens of countries will stream or air each day's events, with some delaying broadcasts until primetime depending on the time zone.

That will be the case in the U.S., where Eastern time is six hours behind Milan and Cortina. NBC will carry showcase events at night while streaming sports on Peacock.

Top storylines

Athletes to watch: Two of the most decorated Alpine skiers in history, 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, opened the World Cup season in dominant form, raising American hopes of a golden run in Cortina. Eileen Gu is back in freestyle skiing, as is Chloe Kim in snowboarding. NHL players are back on Olympic ice for the first time since 2014 so watch for the likes of Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid.

Venues: All eyes are on the hockey arenas in Milan, which were still under construction in December; the main rink will be about 3 feet shorter than NHL and PWHL players are used to. And the athletes’ village in Cortina is a set of more than 350 mobile homes.

Russian athletes: Some sports federations are deciding whether to let Russians compete as neutral athletes but only after they are cleared by an independent review process to ensure that they have not publicly supported the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated with Russia’s military or other forces.

What’s new: Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut while skeleton has added a mixed team event, luge has added women’s doubles and large hill ski jumping added women’s and men’s super team events.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics