The stage is set for the 25th Winter Olympics as the world's best athletes converge in Italy in search of gold.
With events staged across multiple regions and cities -- including Milan and, for the second time in Olympic history, the resort town of Cortina d'Ampezzo -- this year's Games will be the most geographically widespread Winter Olympics ever held.
Key highlights are set to include NHL superstars such as Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid lining up for Team USA in the men's ice hockey tournament, Lindsey Vonn's sensational comeback bid for downhill skiing glory, Swiss powerhouse Marco Odermatt's quest for further alpine dominance, and Ilia Malinin's pursuit of a historic figure skating gold. These Games will also mark the first addition of a brand new event in 24 years, with ski mountaineering making its Olympic debut.
The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics get underway with pre-opening preliminaries events on Wednesday, Feb. 4. The opening ceremony follows on Friday, Feb. 6, with the games wrapping up with the closing ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 22. A schedule of key events can be found at the foot of this page.
More than 3,000 athletes from 92 countries will be competing for 116 medals over the next two weeks at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Li Jing/Xinhua/Getty Images
When to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics
While preliminary heats take place Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, the opening ceremony will officially kick off the Winter Games on Friday, Feb. 6, at 2 p.m. ET. The competition will close out on Sunday, Feb. 22. The Milan-Cortina Games take place in Italy, six hours ahead of the East Coast time zone in the US, with daily events starting as early as 1 a.m. ET.
Notably, Super Bowl LX is on Feb. 8, and NBC will run coverage for both the Winter Olympics and NFL gameday. Viewers can tune in at 7 a.m. ET on Feb. 8 for the Olympics on NBC and Peacock, with things switching to Super Bowl pregame coverage at 12 p.m. ET, the big game at 6:30 p.m. ET. Then, primetime in Milan will start airing around 10:45 p.m. ET.
How to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics in the US without cable
Every event in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games will be available to watch live in 4K on Peacock, the most affordable option. The streaming service has a slate of special in-app features for the Winter Games, including Rinkside Live, highlights, an interactive schedule and multiview.
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