Athletes Shine at Italy’s Winter Olympics

Milan, Italy —(Map)

The 2026 Winter Olympics opened last Friday in Milan, Italy. The Olympics, which are being held in several locations around Italy, will run through February 22. This year’s Games even feature some new sports. Already, there have been thrilling results and there’s more yet to come.

This year’s Winter Olympics are being held in Italy. For the first time ever, the Olympics have two official host cities: Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. Cortina, which is in the mountains near Austria, is an Italian town famous for its skiing. In fact, the 1956 Winter Olympics were held in Cortina.

But this year’s events aren’t just spread between the two main locations. Events are being held in places all across Italy’s northeast. Some people have described it as the most spread out Olympics ever. Most ice events will be held in Milan, while skiing and other kinds of events will be held in other places.

Last Friday, opening events took place in four different cities. The theme was peace and harmony. The main event was held at a stadium in Milan. Highlights were songs sung by pop star Mariah Carey and an Italian opera star called Andrea Bocelli. There were also many other performances by well-known Italians.

Roughly 2,900 athletes from over 90 countries are taking part in the games. They are competing for medals in 116 different events, all focused around snow, ice, and winter activities.

A number of sports, like alpine skiing, bobsleigh, and luge are downhill races over snow or ice. Many sports focus on speed. Others, like figure skating or freestyle snowboarding focus on the abilities and artistic talent of the athletes. There are also team sports like hockey and curling.

This year there’s even a new sport, called skimo, or ski mountaineering. In skimo, athletes ski uphill, then take their skis off to climb up even farther (above). Finally, after skiing up a little more, they ski downhill, racing to the finish line. Above, German Ski Mountaineering Championships in 2017.

This year there’s even a new sport, called skimo, or ski mountaineering. In skimo, athletes ski uphill, then take their skis off to climb up even farther. Finally, after skiing up a little more, they ski downhill, racing to the finish line.

Like most Olympics, there are plenty of amazing athletes with interesting stories.

Ilia Malinin, 21, is already a world champion ice skater. But this is his first Olympics. Malinin is known for his “quadruple Axel” – an incredibly difficult jump that requires spinning around 4.5 times in the air in less than a second. On Tuesday, Malinin won the men’s singles short program competition (above).

Ilia Malinin, 21, is already a world champion ice skater. But this is his first Olympics. Malinin is known for his “quadruple Axel” – an incredibly difficult jump that requires spinning around 4.5 times in the air in less than a second. Malinin helped the US figure skaters win gold as a team. And on Tuesday, Malinin took the lead in men’s single figure skating by winning the short program competition.

Sarah Schleper is an Alpine skier who has competed for both the US and Mexico in the Olympics. In 2011, she carried her three-year-old son down a slalom course. This year, she and her son, Lasse Gaxiola (now 18), are both competing for Mexico in the Olympics. It’s the first time a mother and son have taken part in the same Winter Olympics.

So far, Norway is leading in the medal count, with six gold medals and 12 medals in all. Italy is not far behind, with 11 medals, including 2 golds. But the Olympics will continue for nearly two weeks more, and there are still many, many events and medals to come.

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Did You Know…?
Because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, no athletes can represent Russia or Belarus at the Olympics. But about 20 athletes from these countries will compete as “Individual Neutral Athletes”, without representing their countries.