3 min readFeb 4, 2026 06:41 PM IST
Winter Olympics 2026 Opening Ceremony Date, Time, Venues, Live Streaming: The 2026 Winter Olympics, to be co-hosted by the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina, will start on Friday (February 6) and will run till February 22.
This year’s Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony is reported to feature performances from artists like five-time Grammy Award-winner Mariah Carey, Golden Globe winner Laura Pausini and famed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.
Here’s all you need to know about the 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
What day and time will the Opening Ceremony begin?
The Opening Ceremony for the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina will start at 8pm CET (12.30 IST) on Friday night (Saturday in India).
How far are Milan and Cortina
Milan and Cortina are in different parts of Northern Italy, and travelling between them typically takes several hours by road to complete the 410 km (255 miles) trip.
Sports at Winter Olympics
Milano Cortina 2026 features eight sports, 16 disciplines, and 116 events. It also includes the Olympic debut of ski mountaineering.
Venues of the Winter Olympics
Events will be held across multiple territories in Northern Italy, including Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Livigno, Bormio, Anterselva/Antholz, Predazzo, Tesero and Verona.
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Multiple Opening Ceremonies
According to the Associated Press, the ritualistic Parade of Nations and the Opening Ceremony will be spread across four venues for the 2026 Winter Olympics. It will be held primarily in Milan’s San Siro Stadium, which will be packed with 60,000 spectators. But for the first time in Olympic history, there will be ceremonies in three other locations as well: the mountain venues of Cortina, Predazzo and Livigno.
Olympic events will be held in venues spanning the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto, as well as the autonomous provinces of Alto Adige and Trentino, with many hours of driving between them.
The AP report noted that the diffusion of the Parade of Nations will allow athletes from all disciplines, no matter how far-flung, to participate, organizers told a news conference. Biathlon athletes competing in Anterselva, on the Austrian border, will be able to participate in nearby Cortina, in the Dolomites of Veneto, while men’s alpine skiers competing in Lombardy’s Bormio near Switzerland can join the parade in Livigno, where snowboarding and freestyle skiing events will be held, just 45 minutes away.
Multiple flagbearers and two Olympic flames
Organisers for the Winter Olympics 2026 had revealed in October that each nation will be allotted two flagbearers, and they can appear in two different venues. Italy, as host, will have four flagbearers, two men and two women.
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The Olympic flame, meanwhile, will burn in two locations: The Arco della Pace in central Milan, and in Cortina’s main Piazza Dibona.
Organizers said the concept for the Opening Ceremony is ‘Harmony’ representing the duality of the urban and mountain venues for these games, as well as an appeal in a moment of enormous global tensions.
How to live stream the Opening Ceremony?
As of on Wednesday, little under 50 hours from the Opening Ceremony, there is no live broadcast or live streaming partner for the Winter Olympics in India.
