The CEO of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, Andrea Varnier dispelled doubt that the sliding races will be held in Italy. The newly rebuilt track in Cortina d'Ampezzo underwent testing last week and both the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation and International Luge Federation declared it a success, with the final approval to come from the International Olympic Committee.

"Well, last week was a very important landmark because we've been expecting this for a long time. A lot of people had doubts that we could make it in just over 300 days to build a sliding track. And the pre-homologation went very well. And so now we're looking forward to the actual homologation that will happen in the fall. And then we will have our test event and then training session and then finally the Games. But I can say that the premologation was the most important step in this process. When is past, I think we have absolutely no doubt that now the sliding sports will happen in Cortina," said Varnier.