GoKawiilThousands of the world's best athletes are competing in the 25th Winter Olympics in search of gold.
With events happening now 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 Canada in the men's ice hockey tournament, 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 got underway with pre-opening preliminaries events on Wednesday, Feb. 4. The opening ceremony followed on Friday, Feb. 6, and the games will wrap 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 at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Li Jing/Xinhua/Getty Images
When to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics
The Winter Games began on Friday, Feb. 6, at 2 p.m. ET and are now underway. 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.
How to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics in the US without cable
Every event in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games is 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.
NBC is also airing its exclusive Olympic coverage in 4K, and events will broadcast across NBC, USA Network and NBCSN. You can watch these linear channels on a live TV streaming service like YouTube TV, DirecTV (its MySports package is $70) or Hulu's live TV platform. For viewers with an Xfinity TV package (there are streaming-only plans), Comcast is providing 4K viewing and a dedicated Olympics hub.
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