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2026 Winter Olympics: Host, date, venues, prize money and list of sports

Taking place around 18 months after the Summer Games, the Winter Olympics sees some of the world's most talented athletes compete in sporting events on snow and ice.

While the modern Olympics can be traced back nearly 3,000 years to ancient Greece, the Winter Olympics were first held in 1924 and have been held every four years since, except during the Second World War.

Below we look at all you need to know about the Winter Games.

2026 Winter Olympics host

The 2026 Winter Olympics will primarily take place in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in northern Italy. The two cities will serve as joint-hosts.

2026 Winter Olympics date

The 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony will be on Friday 6th February 2026 with the Closing Ceremony on Sunday 22nd February 2026.

The first event of the 2026 Winter Olympics will take place on Wednesday 4th February

2026 Winter Olympics sports

Following the removal of the alpine mixed team parallel event, the addition of three ski mountaineering events and five new events in freestyle skiing, luge, ski jumping and skeleton, there will be a total of 116 events at the 2026 Winter Olympics across 16 sports.

Sport

Medals contested

 Alpine skiing 

10 

 Biathlon 

11 

 Bobsleigh 

 Cross-country skiing 

12 

 Curling 

 Figure skating 

 Freestyle skiing 

15 

 Ice hockey 

 Luge 

 Nordic combined 

 Short-track speed skating 

 Skeleton 

 Ski jumping 

 Ski mountaineering 

 Snowboarding 

11 

 Speed skating 

14 

2026 Winter Olympics venues

While the 2026 Winter Olympics will primarily take place in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, 13 different venues will be used during the Games.

Milan cluster

Venue

Events

Capacity

San Siro Stadium

Opening ceremony

75,817

Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena - PalaItalia

Ice Hockey (finals)

16,000

Milan Ice Park

Ice Hockey, Speed skating

12,000

Forum di Milano, Assago

Figure skating, Short track speed skating

12,700

Cortina d'Ampezzo cluster

Venue

Events

Capacity

Olimpia delle Tofane

Alpine skiing

1,000 (main grandstand)

South Tyrol Arena, Antholz

Biathlon

9,000

Olympic Ice Stadium

Curling

7,000

Eugenio Monti Olympic Track

Bobsleigh, Luge, Skeleton

TBC

Valtellina cluster

Venue

Events

Capacity

Pista Stelvio, Bormio

Alpine skiing, Ski mountaineering

TBC

Mottolino/Sitas-Tagliede/Carosello 3000, Livigno

Snowboarding, Freestyle skiing

TBC

Val di Fiemme cluster

Venue

Events

Capacity

Giuseppe Dal Ben Ski Jumping Arena, Predazzo

Ski jumping, Nordic combined

TBA

Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium, Lago di Tésero

Cross-country skiing, Nordic combined

50,000

Verona

Venue

Events

Capacity

Verona Arena

Closing ceremony

20,000

2026 Winter Olympics prize money

Although the IOC doesn't award prize money at the Olympics, many nations do rewards their medallists with prize money, though this varies significantly by country.

2026 prize money hasn't been confirmed, but gold medal winners from the 2022 Winter Olympics received anywhere between £10,000 for a gold medal to a competitor from Australia, to around £500,000 for a gold medal to a competitor from Singapore.

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