Olympics opening ceremony live updates as the 2026 winter games begin in Milano Cortina

Athletics events at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games began on Feb. 4 with training sessions and preliminary rounds for many disciplines, including curling, ice hockey and snowboarding.

The first medals for the Games will be awarded on Saturday, Feb. 7:

• Alpine skiing (men’s downhill)
• Cross country skiing (10k + 10k women’s skiathlon)
• Ski jumping (NH female)
• Snowboard (men’s air max)
• Speed ​​skating (women’s 3000m)

For more information on the Olympic program, Click here.

American star Lindsay Vonn took part in the official Olympic training event for Women’s figure skating on Friday, hitting the slopes for the first time at the Winter Games. after tearing his left ACL when he crashed in the World Cup race in the Swiss Alps last week.

Friday’s run was the first official practice before the games, after Thursday’s event was canceled due to weather.

Vonn completed the run with no apparent problems. Her first competitive Olympic event, the women’s downhill planned for Sunday.

Read more about Vonn’s first run in Milan here.

An animal most people have never heard of – the stoat – is the mascot for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

The drawings of Tina the stoat, the Olympic mascot, and her brother Milo, the Paralympic mascot, were designed by students of the Istituto Comprensivo of Taverna, according to the Olympics. The adorable mascots embody the “Italian spirit that inspires them.”

Tina and Milo were joined by six snowflakes the Olympics called “The Flo.”

The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially the XXV Winter Olympic Games, will be jointly hosted by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy. It is the first Olympic Games to be officially hosted by two cities.

Milan will host mainly snow events, while the remaining events will be hosted by clusters around Cortina and the Valtellina and Fiemme valleys. Milan and Cortina are 250 miles apart by road, about a five-hour drive.

Italy first hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, followed by the 2006 Games in Turin. The country also hosted the Summer Olympics once, in Rome in 1960.

The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924 in Chamonix, France

The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will start from Feb. 6 to Feb. 22, although a few events are held before the official opening day.

Games will advertise 116 events on ice and snow, in eight sports and 16 disciplines, including cross-country skiing, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, and the beginnings of cross-country skiing, known as skimo.

The Paralympics will be held next month, from March 6 to March 15.

The opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics will be broadcast in the US on NBC. It will be broadcast on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com at 2 pm ET. It will take about three hours.

The network says an enhanced presentation of the opening ceremony will air on NBC at 8 pm ET.

Read more here.