Let the party begin! Italy and the Olympic movement are celebrating this Thursday the symbolic date of D-365 before the opening of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games. The Strehler Theatre will be the institutional epicentre of this day in the Lombard capital. IOC President Thomas Bach will symbolically hand over the invitations for the Games to the National Olympic Committees. The ceremony will be held behind closed doors, but the public will be able to participate in other ways in this “One Year to Go”.
Sport, but not only
Omega watchmaker will launch the official countdown in Piazzetta Reale. The days, hours, minutes and seconds leading up to the start of the Games will be counted down there over the coming year. The Milan-Cortina 2026 Sports Village, sponsored by Samsung and Enel, will be inaugurated at 17:30 pm in Piazza del Duomo. It will be open daily for a month. Visitors will be able to access the space free of charge to take part in cultural events or try their hand at ice hockey and curling. A way to raise the temperature and make the prospect of the Games more tangible in the heart of Milan. In a year's time, the city will host the ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating and short track events, as well as the Opening Ceremony, at the San Siro stadium, as well as the Olympic Village.
A skating show will take place on the ice rink in Piazza Città di Lombardia at 5 p.m. The public will then be able to enjoy the ice and skate for free, in the presence of the mascots Tina and Milo. The Salomon brand store will offer the chance to meet triple Olympic kayak champion Antonio Rossi. The Games will also be in the spotlight in Cortina d'Ampezzo, with a show on Piazza Roma, in Livigno, with a theatrical performance on the theme of the history of winter sports, and in Trento, where a new exhibition on performance opens this Thursday. The Olympic rings will also be unveiled to the public on Friday in Piazza del Kuerc, in Bormio, one year before the start of the ski mountaineering events in the resort.
A stopwatch in the head
Beyond the party, the D-365 will put a little extra pressure on the teams responsible for organizing the event. "We are in a very intense period, but also a very positive one", slips the general director of OCOG, Andrea Varnier, to the AFP. On the front of the recruitment of volunteers, OCOG received “85.000 applications, including many French people who participated in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” said Andrea Varnier. Much more than is needed since the organization will call on 18.000 volunteers. No worries on that side, then. All the test events carried out so far have been satisfactory. The quality of the Olympia delle Tofane slope, which will host women's alpine skiing in 2026, was particularly praised. On the other hand, there is still work to complete the track that will host bobsleigh, luge and skeleton in Cortina. An inspection visit took place in mid-January. The work is progressing, but the deadlines remain tight.
Nearly 200 workers are working in shifts seven days a week to enable the first tests to be carried out as quickly as possible. "We are on schedule, pre-approval will take place from March 24 to 30", reassures the Olympic Works Delivery Company. "The possibility of postponing pre-approval to April exists", according to a source with access to the inspection reports, questioned by AFP, but the prospect of a relocation to Lake Placid seems to be moving away. The construction site of the Arena di Santa Giulia, which will host ice hockey, is also being closely monitored. The 16.000-seat venue "will be delivered to the organizing committee around the fall" in the words of Christophe Dubi, executive director of the Games, for Reuters. The OCOG will undergo another test in the coming days with its online ticketing. 350.000 people have registered to access the first phase of sales. A draw will take place this Thursday to assign a connection slot to each user. The goal: to streamline the process by avoiding a rush on the site and long waiting times, frustrating for future spectators. One of the many challenges to be met for the Games to be crowned with success.
