New clouds in the Italian sky. Three years and a handful of days before the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games (February 6 to 22), the organizing committee will have to recover from a new low blow. This time, surprise, it was given by the IOC.
Faithful to its line of conduct of a controlled budget and a policy of cost reduction, the Olympic body rejected the Italian proposal to cover with a roof the speed skating oval of the small town of Baselga di Piné, in the autonomous region of Trento. It was notably used for the Winter Universiade in 2013.
The project was however written in beautiful letters in the organizing file for the Winter Games. Last November, its cost was announced at 50 million euros. Not cheap, but essential for holding the Olympic long track speed skating events.
The only problem, but a major one: the cost presented to the IOC would be very unrealistic. The Olympic body is already anticipating a budget overrun, too risky in its eyes for equipment with very uncertain future prospects. The town of Baselga di Piné has only 5.000 inhabitants. And speed skating has never been a great Italian specialty.
Giovanni Malago, the president of Milan-Cortina 2026 and the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), explained this at the end of last week: “ The IOC concluded that the investment had been underestimated and was unsustainable for the region. He reserves the right to indicate to us the path to follow for the organization of the Games. I defended the initial project, but there comes a time when we can no longer defend the indefensible"
Unless the situation changes again, the Baselga di Piné option is therefore removed from the system. Three years before the deadline, the blow is severe for the Italian organizers, whose delay in preparing the Games is beginning to seriously worry the IOC.
Giovanni Malago agrees: the Milan-Cortina 2026 adventure has not been a smooth ride since the award of the event, during the IOC session in June 2019. “TEverything that has happened since then, from COVID to the war in Ukraine, has turned against us, he admits. Baselga di Piné is not a victim, but rather one of the problems that systematically arise when organizing an international event like the Olympic Games"
Question: what alternative will the Italians be able to pull out of their hat, in a context of cost control and political uncertainty?
The wisest solution, regularly mentioned since the application phase, looks to the past. She suggests falling back on an existing facility, the Turin indoor oval, used for the Winter Games in 2006.
Its advantages are not small. Starting with the now essential heritage varnish to apply to the Games to make their appearance shine. The IOC would certainly welcome a competition site from the 2006 Turin Games being used for an Olympic edition organized twenty years later. The picture would be perfect.
For Turin, the arrival of long track speed skating would put the capital of Piedmont back on the map of sites. The city's mayor, Democrat Stefano Lo Russo, had entrusted it to FrancsJeux last October, in reference to the decision of the former municipal team to withdraw from the project: “ Dropping the candidacy was a bad decision"
But the Turin option also has its drawbacks. At the top of the list, remoteness. The Milan-Cortina Games map already announces considerable travel times between competition venues. Locating the ice oval in Piedmont would still add a generous dose of miles.
Another problem: the ice-making equipment and materials have been removed from the Turin ice rink. It would cost around 15 million euros to put them back in place.
Giovanni Malago recognizes this: “ Going to Turin is not automatic. We will discuss the different possibilities“. It could be considered, for example, to build a temporary track in a congress or exhibition center in Lombardy or Veneto, the respective regions of the two hubs of the Games, Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.
In the meantime, Giovanni Malago is not afraid of adding another layer to an already heavy burden for northern Italy to bear. Visiting the Baselga di Piné ice oval, the Italian leader explained that he hoped that the two regions of Trento and Lombardy would make common cause to submit a bid for the Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2028.
