The one-year countdown to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics is on. IOC president Thomas Bach proclaimed on Thursday, “Italy is ready.” Is it? Italy has ski resorts in abundance and spectacular mountains but one pressing concern remains rebuilding the century-old sliding center in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Italy began the one-year countdown to the Winter Olympics on Thursday with a series of events designed to fuel enthusiasm for the Games that will be co-hosted by Milan and the Alpine town of Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Swiss Alpine Skier Lara Gut-Behrami revealed she never thought she would make it to the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics after an injury-laden period.

Alpine skiing will be divided between Cortina (for the women’s events) and Bormio (for the men) — which are separated by a 5 ½-hour drive. Livigno will host freestyle skiing and snowboarding, biathlon will be in Anterselva, Nordic events will be in Val di Fiemme and ice sports in Milan.

Thursday officially marked one year until the opening ceremonies of the 2026 Winter Olympics, hosted for the first time by two cities: Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

Andrea Varnier has fond memories of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The CEO of the next Winter Games has some advice for Utah's Olympic organizers.

Next year’s Olympics might be called the Milan Cortina Games but it will actually be staged across a large swath of northern Italy spread over five different venue clusters.

Omega, the official timekeeper of the Olympics, presents a new Seamaster for the Winter Games in Milano Cortina 2026 ✓ Check it out! ✓

Milan Cortina Winter Games, which open one year from today, feature the Olympic debuts of one sport and five new events within existing sports. The Opening Ceremony is next Feb. 6 at the San Siro Stadium in Milan.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Thursday officiated the one-year countdown to the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games, saying “Italy is ready.”