The soap opera is over. It was high time. The organizers of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games checked a new box in their system on Wednesday April 19. The last one on the map: the speed skating ice ring.
Without any real surprise, it will be installed temporarily at the Fiera Milano (photo above), a huge exhibition center located in the town of Milan. The capital of Lombardy therefore inherits additional discipline. She won't complain.
The decision was taken unanimously by members of the board of directors of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Games Foundation, the organizing committee chaired by Giovanni Malago. It sends into the oblivion of history the other file in the running for the hosting of the Olympic speed skating competitions, carried by the city of Turin and its mayor, Stefano Lo Russo.
The capital of Piedmont proposed to host the speed ring at the Lingotto Oval, the indoor complex built for the Winter Games in 2006. The project had the advantage of reintegrating the city of Turin, which is was definitively excluded in September 2018, in the middle of the application phase, by decision of its municipal team, then led by Chiara Appendino, member of the 5 Star Movement.
But the Turin option was not without effect on the Games budget, particularly in terms of transport and security. Above all, it would have required a serious upgrade of the facilities, the Lingotto Oval having not been used for skating competitions since the Winter Games in 2006.
The Italian organizers chose a more low cost. The 400m speed ring installed at Fiera Milano will only be temporary. Financed by private funds and equipped with stands that can accommodate up to 6.500 spectators, it will be dismantled after the end of the Winter Games in 2026. The equipment will be added to two other pillars of the Milan-Cortina 2026 system, the main press center (MPC) and that of broadcasters (IBC), already planned at Fiera Milano.
As a reminder, the Milan-Cortina 2026 application file planned to organize the long track speed skating competitions on the outer ring of Baselga di Piné, a town in the Trento region, between Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. A roof had to cover the equipment, to guarantee optimal conditions. Initial cost announced: $54 million. Estimated final cost: at least 50% more. Too expensive and too risky, decided the IOC.
Coincidence or not, the last episode of the long series of the speed ring concluded this week in the presence of Thomas Bach. The IOC President is visiting Italy. On Wednesday April 19, he met the governor of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, at the Palazzo Lombardia in Milan. His stay is due to continue this Thursday in Rome. Thomas Bach and Giovanni Malago, the president of Milan-Cortina 2026 and the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), will be received by Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister.
On the menu of discussions, the Winter Games and again the Winter Games. The issue has become very political in Italy. National media report that a meeting dedicated to the event is now organized every two weeks. Around the table, a solid contingent of ministers and secretaries of state, proof of the government's desire to take control of the file.
