What to know about the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games opening ceremony
- More than 2,900 athletes from 92 national Olympic committees will compete at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games. The United States will have the largest presence with more than 230 athletes, followed by Canada with 210 athletes and host nation Italy with 196.
- The opening ceremony marks the official start of the 2026 Winter Olympics and takes place at Milan's San Siro Stadium, with additional events around Milan and athlete parades in Predazzo, Livigno and Cortina d'Ampezzo, starting at 2 p.m. ET.
- The Parade of Nations, with participating athletes from around the globe, and the traditional lighting of the Olympic flame are some of the highlights of the opening ceremony.
- The pageantry will include performances from Mariah Carey, Laura Pausini, Andrea Bocelli and Sabrina Impacciatore of the HBO show, "White Lotus."
Who is the host of the 2026 Winter Olympics?
The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially the XXV Winter Olympic Games, will be co-hosted by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in northern Italy. It is the first Olympic Games to be officially co-hosted by two cities.
Milan will primarily host the ice events, while the remaining events be hosted in clusters around Cortina and the Valtellina and Fiemme valleys. Milan and Cortina are about 250 miles apart by road, nearly 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 has also hosted the Summer Olympics once, in Rome in 1960.
The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924 in Chamonix, France
When are the 2026 Winter Olympics?
The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will run from Feb. 6 to Feb. 22, although a few events are being held before the official opening day.
The Games will showcase 116 events on ice and snow, in eight sports and 16 disciplines, including alpine skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, and the debut of ski mountaineering, known as skimo.
The Paralympics will take place the following month, from March 6 to March 15.
How to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
The 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony will be broadcast in the U.S. on NBC. It will be streamed on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com at 2 p.m. ET. It will last about three hours.
The network says an enhanced encore presentation of the opening ceremony will be broadcast on NBC at 8 p.m. ET.
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Team USA gears up for 2026 Winter Olympics
Team USA gears up for 2026 Winter Olympics
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