One-month countdown to 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics gets underway

The countdown to the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics entered its final month on Tuesday, with the time remaining featured on a huge display in downtown Milan, a visible reminder that planning must soon give way to reality.

Event organizers say the preparations are largely on schedule, with the final snowmaking and infrastructure work progressing smoothly. Several projects for the Games remain under construction, including the Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, where the first competition is scheduled to be held on February 5. The venue is due to be ready for test events on January 9.

"We have some delays at Santa Giulia, but we are confident, super confident, that in the end, everything will happen as we planned," said Andrea Francisi, the Chief Games Operations Officer.

The finishing touches are being applied to the sliding center in Cortina, a project many people thought wouldn't be ready in time, while two tunnels designed to bypass some of the mountain roads in the area are not yet completed. Those delays, in combination with several other private construction projects, could impact traffic and infrastructure around host venues.

In Milan, the remaining venues are ready to go, with a temporary ice hockey stadium already hosting test events. The media center is located at the MiCo Convention Center and figure skating will take place at an arena in the city's south. The opening ceremony is set for the San Siro Stadium on February 6. The city center has 33,000 hotel rooms and most visitors during the Games are expected to be based there.