Olympics opening ceremony live updates as 2026 Winter Games kick off in Milano Cortina

 

Nicoletta Manni holds the flame during the Winter Olympics Torch Relay on Feb. 5, 2026 in Milan, Italy. 

What to know about the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games opening ceremony

• More than 2,900 athletes from 92 national Olympic committees will compete at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games. The United States will have the largest presence with more than 230 athletes, followed by Canada with 210 athletes and host nation Italy with 196.
• The opening ceremony marks the official start of the 2026 Winter Olympics and takes place at Milan's San Siro Stadium, with additional events around Milan and athlete parades in Predazzo, Livigno and Cortina d'Ampezzo, starting at 2 p.m. ET.
• The Parade of Nations, with participating athletes from around the globe, and the traditional lighting of the Olympic flame are some of the highlights of the opening ceremony.
• The pageantry will include performances from Mariah Carey, Laura Pausini, Andrea Bocelli and Sabrina Impacciatore of the HBO show, "White Lotus."

States and hometowns with most Team USA athletes for 2026 Winter Olympics

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee is sending its biggest Winter Olympics team ever to the 2026 Games in Italy — 232 Olympic athletes representing 32 home states.

The CBS News data team mapped the home states of the athletes to identify which states had the most representation.

Colorado leads with 30 athletes, followed by Minnesota, which is home to 24, and California, with 19.

States with the fewest competitors include Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, North Dakota and Washington, D.C., each with just one, while 18 states have no athletes on the team.

Where is Team USA from?

Click or hover on a state to see how many 2026 Olympians call that state home.

Number of athletes

Note: Data does not include the three alternate athletes on Team USA or the three athletes from countries outside the U.S.

Map: Taylor Johnston / CBS NewsSource: USOPC

Olympic torch travels across Milan ahead of Opening Ceremony

The Olympic torch arrived in Milan on Thursday evening ahead of today's Opening Ceremony to officially kickstart the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games.

The torch, which was lit in Olympia, Greece, on Nov. 26, 2025, arrived in Italy on Dec. 5 and has since traveled through all the regions of the country, building anticipation for the Winter Games.

Today, the torch is making its way through Milan before reaching the San Siro Stadium for the lighting of the Olympic flame.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Swedish former professional footballer and senior advisor for AC Milan, carries the Olympic Torch during the final stage of the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Torch Relay.Emanuele Cremaschi / Getty Images

Who are Team USA's flagbearers for today's Opening Ceremony

Speedskater Erin Jackson and bobsledder Frank Del Duca were chosen as the U.S. flagbearers for today's Opening Ceremony — and they might be the perfect pair to lead Team USA into the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Jackson is the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal at a Winter Olympics and Del Duca is a sergeant in the Army with deep Italian roots. They were selected by a group of their fellow Olympians as the U.S. flagbearers.

Erin Jackson of Team USA was selected as one of the U.S. flagbearers for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony.Lee Jin-man / AP
Jackson will become the eighth U.S. speedskater to carry the flag into an Olympics, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said, while Del Duca will be the first bobsledder to carry the flag at an opening in 70 years.
Frank del Duca of Team USA was selected as one of the flagbearers at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
What is the 2026 Winter Olympics schedule?
The athletic events at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games began on Feb. 4 with training sessions and early rounds for multiple disciplines, including curling, ice hockey and snowboarding.The first medals of the Games will be handed out on Saturday, Feb. 7:

• Alpine skiing (men's downhill)
• Cross country skiing (women's 10k + 10k skiathlon)
• Ski jumping (women's NH individual)
• Snowboard (men's big air)
• Speed skating (women's 3000m)

For more details on the Olympic schedule, click here.

Lindsey Vonn hits 2026 Winter Olympics slopes for first time with torn ACL

American star Lindsay Vonn participated in an official Olympic training event for Women's downhill skiing on Friday, hitting the slopes at the Winter Games for the first time after rupturing her left ACL when she crashed in a World Cup race in the Swiss Alps a week ago.

Friday's run was the first official downhill training to take place ahead of the Games, after an event scheduled for Thursday was canceled due to the weather.

Lindsey Vonn of Team USA skis during the Women's Downhill training at Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.Julian Finney/Getty
Vonn completed the run without any apparent issues. Her first competitive Olympic event, the women's downhill, is scheduled for Sunday.
Meet the 2026 Winter Olympic mascots, the Milano Cortina stoats Tina and MiloAn animal most people have never heard of — the stoat — is the mascot for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. 
Drawings of Tina the stoat, the Olympic mascot, and her brother Milo, the Paralympic mascot, were designed by students of the Istituto Comprensivo of Taverna, according to the Olympics. The adorable mascots embody "the Italian spirit that inspires them."

Tina, at left, and Milo, the mascots of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, stand on stage in Cortina d'Ampezzo before the last torch relay on Jan. 26, 2026.Odd ANDERSEN /AFP via Getty Images

Tina and Milo are joined by six snowdrop flowers that the Olympics called "The Flo.

Who is the host of the 2026 Winter Olympics?

The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially the XXV Winter Olympic Games, will be co-hosted by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in northern Italy. It is the first Olympic Games to be officially co-hosted by two cities.

Milan will primarily host the ice events, while the remaining events be hosted in clusters around Cortina and the Valtellina and Fiemme valleys. Milan and Cortina are about 250 miles apart by road, nearly a five-hour drive.

Italy first hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, followed by the 2006 Games in Turin. The country has also hosted the Summer Olympics once, in Rome in 1960.

The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924 in Chamonix, France

When are the 2026 Winter Olympics?

The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will run from Feb. 6 to Feb. 22, although a few events are being held before the official opening day. 

The Games will showcase 116 events on ice and snow, in eight sports and 16 disciplines, including alpine skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, and the debut of ski mountaineering, known as skimo.

The Paralympics will take place the following month, from March 6 to March 15.

How to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony

The 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony will be broadcast in the U.S. on NBC. It will be streamed on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com at 2 p.m. ET. It will last about three hours.

The network says an enhanced encore presentation of the opening ceremony will be broadcast on NBC at 8 p.m. ET.

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