Paris Olympics: What’s in store at the 2026 Winter Olympics?

NEXT WINTER OLYMPICS
If you’re a fan of the Olympic Games, you won’t have too long to wait after Paris 2024 to watch world-class athletes on the Olympic stage, with the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games in Italy less than two years away.

While the Winter and Summer Games are now held two years apart, it wasn’t until after 1992 that they were separated. Before that, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games were held the same year.

The first Winter Games took place in Chamonix, France, in 1924 and unlike the Summer Olympic Games, the Winter Olympic sports haven’t changed much since.

In fact, in over 100 years, only 10 additional sports have been included. In 1924 there were six sports and now there are 16.

However, there are a lot more events and athletes taking part, from just 258 athletes and 16 events in 1924, to more than 10 times the athletes (2897) and 109 events at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

THE MILANO CORTINA 2026 WINTER GAMES
The 2026 Winter Games will be held between February 6 to 22 and the Winter Paralympics between March 6 to 15, 2026.

The events are set to take place within the two Italian cities of Milano and Cortina, as well as two regions, Lombardia and Veneto, and two Autonomous Provinces* (areas with their own set of laws), Trento and Bolzano.

The 2026 Winter Olympics will cover a total area of 22,000 km sq, making it the most geographically widespread* Winter Games in history.

THE VENUES
Many of the Winter Games venues are outside, in the beautiful natural environment of Italy. This includes Cortina d’Ampezzo, which is set to be the home of alpine skiing, the luge*, bobsleigh, curling* and skeleton*.

Other cities, including Milano, will host events inside a stadium. Milano will host the figure skating, ice hockey, short track speed skating and speed skating events.

AUSTRALIA IN THE WINTER OLYMPICS
While Australia isn’t known for its winter sports due to its mild temperature, our athletes have still had great success, winning 19 Winter Olympic medals overall.

Australia has won a total of six gold, seven silver and six bronze. We had our best results at both Beijing in 2022 and the 2014 Sochi Games, winning four medals at each.

Even better, more money has been put into growing our winter sports program before the 2026 Games. Greater investment* means that winter sports athletes can focus more on training and preparing for the competition, instead of working extra jobs to pay for themselves to attend the Games, which will hopefully mean they win even more medals!

Some of the Aussie athletes to watch out for at the Milano Cortino Games include Tess Coady for snowboard slopestyle, Valentino Guseli, in the snowboard half-pipe, and Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt, in the curling mixed doubles.

THE LATEST NEWS
There will be one new sport added to the Winter Olympics schedule in 2026: ski mountaineering*.

The sport includes three stages of ascent (going up a mountain) and one stage in descent (going down a mountain) with set rules and equipment required.

The events of ski mountaineering at the Winter Games will include the men’s sprint, women’s sprint, and a mixed relay.

THE MASCOTS
The 2026 Winter mascots were announced in February after a public vote. They are two different-coloured ferret siblings named Tina and Milo.

Their names are a reference to the names of the two host cities: Tina for Cortina and Milo for Milan, and were in part designed by Italian schoolchildren.

They were joined by six snowflake characters known as “The Flo”. They too were partially designed by schoolchildren from another Italian school.

WILL THE 2026 WINTER GAMES BE READY IN TIME?
This is the question being asked by some people who are concerned that Italy is not prepared to host the Winter Games.

Many of the event venues are not ready, and in some cases, construction has not even begun, meaning that some sports may have to be moved elsewhere. At the time of writing, the Games are scheduled to proceed as planned.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• Autonomous Provinces: independent regions, or areas that are run separately from the main government
• geographically widespread: spread out across the country
• luge: a high speed sled race where athletes lie on a small sled and race down an icy track feet first, travelling as fast as 135km per hour
• curling: a sport where players slide a stone across a sheet of ice towards a target. players use brushes to sweep the ice in the path of the stone to help it slide better
• skeleton: a high speed sled race where the athlete lies face down on a sled and races down an icy track head first
• investment: putting money towards something
• mountaineering: climbing mountains

QUICK QUIZ
1. When did the Winter Olympics get moved to be held two years after the Summer Olympics?
2. Which two Italian cities will host the 2026 Winter Games?
3. What are the names of the two 2026 Winter Olympic mascots?
4. What animals are the mascots?
5. Which new sport will feature at the 2026 Games?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
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EXTRA READING
PART 13: Oz Games