Winter Olympics return to Italy

MILAN: After two editions in Asia, the Winter Olympics returns to Europe and to Italy in 2026, in a huge event spread over hundreds of kilometres.

The joint bid of Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo saw off Swedish pair Stockholm and Are in 2019 to bring the Winter Games back to Turin, two decades after they were last held there.

Crucially, it will be the first Winter Olympics to be co-organised by two cities.

It will be no easy task as Milan and Cortina are in two different regions — Lombardy and Veneto — and separated by some 400 kilometres (250 miles), or five hours by road.

The distance is such that when skier Sofia Goggia crashed at Cortina on the eve of the Beijing Olympics she had to be flown by helicopter to Milan for tests on her knee injury.

Federica Brignone, a double alpine skiing medal winner at the Beijing Olympics, expressed concern that the large distances involved “won’t be great for the Olympic spirit” at what will likely be the last Games for the 31-year-old.

Cortina will be hosting the event for the first time in 70 years and the 2026 Games will be held in a winter sports hub.

Cortina, in the Italian Dolomites, and Bormio — one of four event ‘clusters’ — regularly host World Cup alpine skiing.

Organisers have been aiming to make the most of existing sports infrastructure to limit the economic and environmental impact for which the Winter Games are often criticised.