Olympics
2026 Winter
Olympics
LIVE
13m ago
The opening ceremony of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics is complete at Milan's San Siro Stadium.
Featuring simultaneous ceremonies in the mountain towns of Cortina, Livigno and Predazzo, the day's festivities included performances from Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli, Cecilia Bartoli and Laura Pausini. Elaborately choreographed dance numbers were followed by the iconic parade of athletes, which was spread over multiple locations for the first time in history. The ceremony concluded with the lighting of the cauldrons.
All of this means that the 2026 Winter Olympics are officially underway!
Check out the Winter Olympics schedule and be sure to follow The Athletic’s coverage of the Games.
The first full day of Olympic action tomorrow has a lot to look forward to. The final of the men’s downhill promises to be thrilling, which occurs at 5:30 a.m. ET.
Speed skating starts with the women's 3000 meters being one of the medal events. That occurs at 10 a.m. ET.
Women’s hockey continues with U.S. looking to go 2-0 as they take on Finland. That game is at 10:40 a.m. ET.
Canada is scheduled to get its first taste of action at the Milan Cortina Games since their first game was postponed due to cases of norovirus found in members of Finland. The Canadian women's team plays Switzerland at 3:10 p.m. ET.
Finally, the figure skating team event continues with the men's short program at 1:45 p.m. ET.. Ilia Malinin, the “Quad God,” will skate for the first time this Olympics at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Get excited, sports fans!
The opening ceremony is complete and the cauldron is lit which means …
The 2026 Winter Olympics are officially underway!
There was a variety of flag-waving on show tonight — one thing is for sure, strong arms are needed to keep it aloft for the length of the walk inside San Siro especially.
No such trouble for Slovakia’s Tomas Tatar here.
This, from near the start of the ceremony, sums up what makes the Olympics (summer and winter so special).
It is a bright, vibrant mix of people coming together to celebrate great sport.
A big, colourful melting pot, like this one!
From symbolic cultural dress to wacky prints and bold designs, this was a night to catch the eye when it came to training wear.
The Winter Olympics provides much more chance for designers to have fun than the summer games, I think.
Czech Republic’s bright fleeces were a favourite of the night among many others.
American speedskater and eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno was pumped up to see his compatriots walk in the parade of athletes earlier tonight. He specifically enjoyed seeing fellow speedskater Erin Jackson as one of Team USA's two flagbearers.
Each team of athletes entered the parade across the four venues through one of these giant gold rings.
They were supposed to be one of the five Olympic rings embedded in the ground, of course, but they look a bit like a portal.
Which, given the spread out nature of this games, feels fitting!
What an effort from the creative team behind this opening ceremony!
Some truly stunning moments of design — just as Milan is famous for.
Always an important part of any Olympics — the idea of fair play.
There is something sacred about pledging this on the Olympic flag. Let’s hope we see plenty of fair play in the days ahead!
It's never too late to practice your Italian…there's a dessert that's good for athletes: tiramisu. The name of this popular dessert comes from the Italian tirami su, which means “cheer me up”. Let the games begin! che i Giochi abbiano inizio!
I really enjoyed the moment when all 92 flags came together on the stage as we moved into the more formal part of the event.
Ok, the speeches are never very entertaining but the symbolism of this moment was pretty nice.
Athletes and volunteers don't want to leave the central stage. They are taking, group photos, selfies and waving their country flags.
San Siro Stadium is starting to empty out.
Back in Bormio, the Stelvio under the lights, looking brooding and formidable, ready to take centre stage on Saturday in the men's Alpine downhill at 11:30 a.m. (CET).
One ski coach said it's like rollerblading down 3000 stairs at over 60mph. Sounds horrendous. These athletes live for it!
The games are go!
Some athletes have waited their whole lives for this moment, so who can blame so many of them for looking thrilled as they walked in the parade as their nations were announced.
Quite often at Olympics, the spread out nature of venues or the schedule means that athletes have to pass on taking part in the opening ceremony.
This time the venues were so far apart that we had four taking place at once. I wonder if it meant more could actually take part!
For the first time in history, two Olympic cauldrons are lit simultaneously, uniting the city and mountains.
Both in Milan and Cortina (pictured here), spectators are able to get pretty close to the Olympic flame inside its intricate cauldron.
Regardless of whether you have tickets to events or just want to lap up the action from public spaces, the flame is visible to all.
A hovering Olympic ring display erupting into a shower of fireworks?
The games really have started — and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s always a hit in an opening ceremony!
The lights also turned on abruptly as the athletes are exiting the stadium floor of the San Siro. Let the Milan Cortina Games begin!

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