The opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics will take place on February 6th in Milan, Italy, at the San Siro stadium. The opening ceremony promises performances by Andrea Bocelli and Mariah Carey. The ceremony will honor Italian excellence with segments celebrating everything from fashion to the diverse climate of Italy. Speaking of climate, this year’s Winter Olympics will be spread across the region. Milan will host the main hub, as well as the ice-based sports. Snow-based sports will be held in the mountain region, specifically Cortina d’Ampezzo.
This year will feature the highest percentage of female competitors in Winter Olympics history, and the most medal events (116). Some of these events include fan favorites: hockey, figure skating, skiing, and bobsled. These are joined by the newest event, ski mountaineering, which combines an uphill climb with downhill skiing. This event relies on the transition phase, in which athletes remove skins (fuzzy strips that provide traction), adjust bindings, and prepare to descend the mountain.
As always, the Olympics bring excitement and great stories about those competing. Seven athletes competing for the United States are making their fifth Olympic appearance, an amazing feat. These athletes are Lindsey Vonn (Alpine Skiing), Kaillie Humphries (Bobsled), Elana Meyers Taylor (Bobsled), Hilary Knight (Ice Hockey), Evan Bates (Figure Skating), Nick Baumgartner (Snowboarding), and Faye Thelen (Snowboarding). Freeskier Abby Winterberger, a 15-year-old from California, is the youngest athlete on the US team of over 230 athletes. Despite an unfortunate dislocated shoulder during training, the United States’s star snowboarder, Chloe Kim, is expected to still compete. At the time of print, Lindsey Vonn had been injured in a crash and airlifted off the course. Despite a ruptured ACL, she will still compete.
Despite all of the joy and celebration surrounding these Olympics, it’s important not to ignore some of the major problems that have arisen so far. Despite being located in the Italian Alps, just about 3 million cubic meters of artificial snow must be produced in order to ensure safe conditions for all the events. This is due to the fact that rising global temperatures have reduced the amount of natural snowfall and caused average temperatures to increase by seven degrees since the last Winter Olympics were held in Italy, 70 years ago. Artificial snow didn’t become commonplace until around 2014, further highlighting the devastating effect that climate change has on all aspects of life. Another conflict that has become public is a brother and sister pair, Annika and Niklas Malacinski, who both compete in the Nordic combine. This event mixes ski jumping and cross-country skiing and is the only event in the Winter Olympics that does not allow women to compete. This means that despite training the same and competing in the same event, only Niklas will get to be an Olympian. This issue has been taken to social media, where Annika is campaigning for gender equality. The International Olympic Committee claims that there isn’t enough participation or viewership of the event to warrant a change. With women’s sports becoming increasingly popular, let’s hope that women’s Nordic combined gains enough traction to be added to the next Winter Olympics.
Through all of this, the spirit of the Olympics still rings true. The greatest athletes will compete on the biggest stage, starting February 4th.