VERONA, Italy — In fair Verona, L.A., unofficially, takes the torch.
While the Olympic flag passed from Italy to France at Sunday’s closing ceremony, handing off the Winter Games from Milan-Cortina to the French Alps, the flame will burn next in L.A.
In just over two years, the United States will host the country’s first Summer Games since 1996, welcoming an Olympic movement that is surging in popularity but unsteady in a changing world, as the Games return to Los Angeles for the third time.
The Milan-Cortina Olympics are expected to rake in record TV numbers for NBC. They already produced the most-watched women’s hockey game on record when an average of 5.3 million viewers took in the United States’ thrilling overtime win over Canada. The rivalry game contributed to the largest weekday audience for a Winter Games since 2014 with an average of 26.7 million viewers who also watched U.S. star Alysa Liu win the country’s first Olympic gold medal for women’s singles figure skating in 24 years.
The smiling 20-year-old with horizontal stripes in her hair became a sensation in Milan just as 41-year-old mother of two Elana Meyers Taylor did in Cortina d’Ampezzo after the five-time Olympian won her first gold medal in bobsled, jumping into the arms of her nanny and, through tears, signing to her deaf children, “Mommy won.”
No matter protests, politics or planning hurdles, the Olympics sought to remain a stage for those athletes to shine.
“You showed us what excellence, respect and friendship look like in a world that sometimes forgets these values,” International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry said to the Olympians in her speech while standing on a platform in the stands placed in front of the Italian delegation. “You showed us that the Olympic Games are a place for everyone. A place where sport brings us together.”
After record numbers from the 2024 Paris Summer Games, the Milan-Cortina Games sold 1.3 million tickets, which, accounting for 80% of the expected tickets, was “beyond our expectations,” Milano Cortina 2026 chief executive officer Andrea Varnier said at a news conference. Of the 63% of international fans who attended the Games, the United States, at 14%, bought the second-most tickets.
Fans filled arenas that were finished just in time in Milan. They withstood snowstorms in Livigno, cheered the debut of ski mountaineering in Bormio and held their breath while multiple skiers got airlifted off the downhill course in Cortina.
The most widespread Games in history created distinct pockets of Olympic spirit separated by hours on trains and miles of winding mountain roads. The Olympics that preached harmony finally united in a single city known for love, beauty and grudges. The Milan-Cortina Games represented seemingly every Shakespearean theme.
Athletes got engaged. Sponsors organized hair and makeup sessions in the Olympic villages, which went through an average of 365 kilograms of pasta and 10,000 eggs a day. A cheating scandal rocked curling.
The closing ceremony set at the Roman amphitheater at the heart of the city that inspired “Romeo and Juliet” celebrated the Games as “beauty in action.” But beneath the glittering gold medals, there was pain.
Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn suffered a horrific crash and has already undergone four surgeries on her broken leg. Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified when he refused to compete without his helmet honoring Ukrainian athletes who’ve been killed in the war with Russia.
Artists perform during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Verona, Italy.
(Bernat Armangue / Associated Press)
Already holding the weight of their personal dreams, U.S. athletes faced additional pressure answering questions about the country’s political landscape. After freestyle skier Hunter Hess he said he had “mixed emotions” representing the United States at the Olympics, President Trump called the 27-year-old “a real loser” on social media.
Two weeks later, Hess held his thumb and forefinger in the shape of an “L” to his forehead after his first qualifying run.
Athletes pleaded for assistance navigating an onslaught of social media threats as the Olympic spotlight grows with every Games. Coventry said at a news conference last week that the IOC has a safeguarding unit that monitors the organization’s social media platforms for hateful messages. More than 10,000 such comments were taken down during the Paris Games, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said. The number for the Milan-Cortina Games hadn’t been finalized.
With the largest delegation of any country at the Games, the United States won the second-most medals with 33, including 12 golds, the most Olympic titles for the country at any single Winter Games. The total gold medals surpassed the 10 won in Salt Lake City in 2002, the last time the United States hosted an Olympic Games.
After more than two decades away, the Games will return to the United States twice in the next eight years. L.A. will host the 2028 Games and Utah will have the 2034 Winter Games.
Approaching the final stretch of an 11-year planning period, the L.A. Games confronted another challenge this month when a growing number of local politicians called for LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman’s resignation after racy emails he exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in the Epstein files. After initial hesitation, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other leaders joined the chorus calling for Wasserman’s dismissal.
But LA28 doubled down on his role. The executive committee of the LA28 board stood by Wasserman after a review from an outside legal firm found that the Hollywood mogul’s relationship with Maxwell “did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented.”
As with his 2026 organizing committee counterpart Giovanni Malago, Wasserman would be expected to deliver speeches in 2028.
We grew up with that line from “ABC’s Wide World of Sports” show.
But really, it’s the spaces in between, that can resonate and bring a sense of mortality to these world-class athletes.
As I witnessed these memorable events in this year’s Winter Olympics, I tried to keep in mind the frail dynamics of our collective psyche while performing against a spectacular backdrop of the Dolemites, or walking the historic, ancient streets of Milan.
There are dozens of photographers working at each event. They, like the athletes on the field of play, are in a competition.
Competing with each other to make the best image. Competing with the elements at outdoor venues, like bitter cold, rain, wind and snow. And most of all, competing with themselves to rise above their personal standard of what constitutes an outstanding photograph.
Witnessing what is probably an athletes greatest moment is both a thrill and an honor.
Here are some of the visual surprises.
Mikhail Shaidorov shows his metal as he takes a bite of the gold medal he won in the Men’s Single Skating Final.
French skier Laura Gauche sails against the backdrop of the Dolomites on her way to the finish line in the Women’s Team Combined Slalom.
Figure skater Ilia Malinin feels the pain of a bad performance during the finals for Men’s Single Skating at Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Megan Keller is mobbed by teammates after scoring the winning goal to beat Canada 2-1 in overtime in the Women’s ice hockey final.
Team USA are reflected in the ice during the Women’s Team Pursuit at Milano Speed Skate Stadium.
Swiss skier Melanie Meillard weeps in the arms of her teammate Janine Schmitt after missing a turn on her slalom run Women’s Team Combined Slalom.
Lindsay Vonn is airlifted off the mountain after crashing during the Women’s downhill Alpine skiing event.
USA skier AJ Hurt wags her tongue after a successful slalom run at the Women’s Team Combined Slalom.
Gloves were flying when Tom Wilson, left, of Team Canada engaged with Pierre Crinon, of Team France, at Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena.
Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates practice before competing in the ice dancing free skate competition.
USA skater Amber Glenn weeps after completing an imperfect routine in the single skating short program.
USA skaters Eunice Lee and Corinne Stonnard crash in the Women’s 3,000m short track speed skating.
French skater Adam Siao Him Fa performs a flip during the finals for Men’s Single Skating.
Medals and a selfie for Italy, Korea and Canada at the Women’s Team Short Track Speed Skating finals.
The Swiss Women’s ice hockey team leaves their equipment on the ice while celebrating an overtime win over Sweden in the bronze medal match.
When women take the ice for Thursday’s Olympic free skate in the global fashion capital of Milan, five skaters will compete in dresses made by Los Angeles-based designer Lisa McKinnon.
McKinnon has become the must-have name in figure skating couture, dressing the entirety of the U.S. and South Korea women’s teams. Americans Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito wore McKinnon’s designs in the short program and will do so again in the free skate.
And one of those dresses may be featured on the medal podium. Liu stands in third place after Tuesday’s short program, while Levito is in eighth and Glenn tumbled to 13th with the free skate still to come.
McKinnon knows exactly how clothing needs to fit on bodies moving across the ice — for spins, for jumps, for everything it takes to win. The fabric must be able to stretch in all directions, which necessitates a four-way stretch fabric. Design with a two-way stretch and a skater might not be able to lift their arm. Dress skaters in spandex, power mesh and stretch velvet, and they’ll move like they do in training.
American Amber Glenn competes in the figure skating short program at the Winter Olympics in Milan on Tuesday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
McKinnon sources most of the fabric locally from the fashion district in downtown L.A.
“It’s really great to just go in person because sometimes it’s the fabric that can inspire you to create something with,” McKinnon said.
McKinnon’s time on the ice that taught her how to create fashion for an athlete tailored for movement and aesthetic appeal. She grew up as a competitive figure skater in Sweden, and she started making bodysuits and dresses — which she wore to practice — for herself at age 11 or 12. By 16, she was designing dresses for elite skaters in her hometown, Mariestad, Sweden, including a Swedish national champion. At the time, they shared a coach, and the coach asked McKinnon to design a dress for the skater.
“They had seen the dresses that I made for other skaters,” she said. “They were just — you know — putting their faith in my hands that I could do this.”
After high school, McKinnon skated in tours in Europe and then North America. In the United States, she first settled in Las Vegas, where she designed dresses for local skaters. When she moved to L.A., bigger name skaters started calling. She designed for Ashley Wagner, three-time U.S. champion, and Karen Chen, who competed in her dresses at the 2018 Olympic Games. McKinnon says they were the ones who “got her noticed.” Noticed to the point that Milan is by no means the designer’s Olympic debut. In 2018, she outfitted pairs gold medalists Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot from Germany.
Since then, McKinnon has become the go-to designer for elite women’s figure skaters in the United States. At U.S. nationals in St. Louis in January, eight of the 18 senior women competed in McKinnon’s dresses. In the final warm-up alone — composed of the six skaters leading after the short program — five wore McKinnon designs. There, Glenn, Liu and Levito stood on the podium in her dresses.
In St. Louis, McKinnon hand delivered a dress to Liu, the reigning world champion who debuted a long-awaited Lady Gaga free skate routine. Liu practiced in the dress and McKinnon was able to make on-the-spot adjustments.
Surprisingly, hand delivery isn’t the norm for the dresses that run from $3,000-$8,000, averaging around $5,000 (McKinnon charges by the hour). Because McKinnon designs for skaters who train all over the country — Liu in Oakland, Glenn in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Levito near Philadelphia in southern New Jersey — FedEx shepherds the dresses across the country. Skaters make sure the dresses fit OK before McKinnon and her four-person seamstress team add sparkle, which usually means a crystal count in the thousands. Beads, paillettes and pearls are often mixed into the shine. Each crystal is hand affixed with E6000 glue.
American Christina Carreira and partner Anthony Ponomarenko compete during the ice dancing free skate at the Winter Olympics on Feb. 11 in Milan.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
McKinnon affixed faux rose pedals to a dress for American ice dancer Christina Carreira to debut during the skater’s own Olympic debut. Midway through the skating season, Carreira and partner, Anthony Ponomarenko, returned to their free dance from two years ago, “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.” They needed new costumes to differentiate from their performances two years ago, and McKinnon had already designed costumes for the team’s rhythm dance to La Bouche’s “Sweet Dreams.” McKinnon made the new dress in a little over a week, and it was set to arrive three days before Carreira left her training base in London, Canada, for the Games.
Except the dress didn’t arrive.
McKinnon learned that the package was stuck at a FedEx facility in Memphis, Tenn., after Winter Storm Fern pummeled the region.
“We would call and sometimes they’d say it’s in L.A., sometimes they’d say it’s in Memphis, so we didn’t know where it was,” Carreira said. “We weren’t getting answers, but going on social media actually helped.”
Carreira woke up after her flight to Milan to find an Instagram message with a photo of her dress. A woman told Carreira that her husband had found the package and put it on the first plane to Detroit, where Carreira’s coach, Scott Moir, retrieved the package to bring to Milan.
Carreira first tried on the dress in Milan. “It fit perfectly,” she said. “Lisa has never met me. She’s only seen me over FaceTime, and the two dresses she’s made fit perfectly.”
Carreira and Ponomarenko placed 11th in their Olympic debut.
“I wanted a dress that made me feel special at the Olympics,” Carreira said. “And both of those dresses did that.”
Carreira came to McKinnon’s designs through Glenn, who skated her short program to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” wearing a McKinnon design based on the 1989 music video. After admiring McKinnon’s designs, Carreira talked it over with Glenn at an early season competition in Oberstdorf, Germany.
“She said Lisa was super easy to work with,” Carreira said. “The dresses fit perfectly.”
McKinnon designs from her studio, which occupies the first floor of her apartment in West Hollywood. There, McKinnon and her team watch their dresses take the runway in Milan. Except the runway is made of ice and the skaters will do much more than walk.
MILAN — After a one-hour on-ice training session and on the way to yet another interview, Isabeau Levito has one big problem on her mind.
One of the plants in the U.S. figure skater’s room has started growing mold. She needs to figure out how to wrangle it.
“That’s our task of the day,” Levito said Monday.
Nevermind that the biggest competition of her life was starting in about 24 hours.
Isabeau Levito competes during the free skating competition at the U.S. figure skating championships on Jan. 9 in St. Louis.
(Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)
Levito and the United States’ “Blade Angels” are trying to stay calm under pressure at the Olympics, where chaos has reigned at Milano Ice Skating Arena.
The United States was expected to dominate figure skating in Milan, but has yet to win a gold medal in an individual event entering Tuesday’s women’s short program. A supposed sure-fire gold medal disappeared in stunning fashion with Ilia Malinin’s eighth-place collapse. Three-time reigning world ice dance champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates settled for a “bittersweet” silver that was marred by judging controversies.
But the talent and depth on what is likely the best U.S. women’s Olympic team in decades could help end a 20-year Olympic medal drought in women’s singles skating. The last U.S. woman to stand on an Olympic podium for an individual event was Sasha Cohen in 2006. Sarah Hughes’ 2002 gold medal was the last for the United States in women’s singles.
Alysa Liu has already ended one skid. The reigning world champion was the first U.S. woman to win the world title since 2006. With blonde horizontal stripes dyed into her black hair and a piercing in her upper lip, the 20-year-old Liu is putting an alternative spin on figure skating.
Three-time national champion Amber Glenn combines power in her triple axel with emotion on the ice.
Levito, the 2024 world silver medalist, is the classic balletic skater who packs a humorous punch behind her teenage smile.
In a sport that once pitted young women against each other to fit a singular “ice princess” mold, the “Blade Angels” find their strength in their diversity.
“I really like that we’re all so different,” Levito said. “We have our own strengths and our own personalities and our own ways we want to look and appear. … We all have the same passion for the sport and have very aligned goals of wanting to do our best, and once we do that, we’re all happy, regardless of who beat who.”
NBC announcing team Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir dubbed the trio of medal contenders “the big three,” but the skaters workshopped their own nickname after nationals. They nixed “Babes of Glory” and “Powerpuff Girls” for copyright concerns. Their final choice was a mashup of “Blades of Glory” and “Charlie’s Angels.” If you like it, credit Liu.
“If people don’t like it,” Liu said, “don’t say I made it.”
Liu and Glenn have already won a gold medal in Milan, helping the United States win the team event in dramatic fashion. But with the two events spaced more than one week apart, “being in a high-pressure atmosphere for so long takes its toll,” Glenn said.
The 26-year-old has faced additional challenges on social media at the Games. She had to resolve potential copyright issues concerning her free skate music and received threats for comments she made during a news conference when asked about President Trump’s policies regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, encouraged people in the queer community to “stay strong during these hard times,” refusing to avoid political conversations because “politics affect us all.”
American Amber Glenn competes during the team skate at the Winter Olympics in Milan on Feb. 8.
(Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)
While she said Monday she doesn’t regret the comments, she has also had to take a break from social media to focus on her remaining competitions at the Olympics.
“I’m happy to do what I do and stand for what I stand for,” Glenn said. “But it has been —”
She paused.
“Complicated.”
Not only are the Olympic Games the largest stage for many sports and a dream that begins from childhood, but the spotlight has only increased with social media in recent years, Glenn said. Amid the pressure, she tries to lean on her teammates and embody the advice of U.S. figure skating alumni who tell her simply “enjoy it.”
“Four years ago, I could never have imagined even making it here,” Glenn said. “To just be here is a privilege that I don’t take lightly, and I need to remind myself of that and to just really soak in the experience, not just the results.”
Isabeau Levito skates during the U.S. figure skating championships on Jan. 11 in St. Louis.
(Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)
To reset after the team competition, the “Angels” went with the pairs skaters — whose competition started one week after the team event wrapped — to train at a U.S. facility in Bergamo, about a 50-minute drive outside of Milan. The training sessions are longer than what’s available at the competition venue, said Levito, who only took two training sessions in Milan before Tuesday’s short program.
The last U.S. figure skater to take Olympic ice, Levito has passed her time at the Games in the Olympic village. After making the Olympic team, the New Jersey native was most excited about the village. To her, it was going to be like “a magic kingdom,” she said before the Games.
It’s lived up to every expectation. She walks by the Olympic rings every morning. She and her teammates lounged in front of the TV watching the pairs competition Sunday and Glenn ordered ramen. Levito and U.S. ice dancer Christina Carreira named the adopted plants in their shared room Christabeau and Isatina. Levito is loving the experience so much that she won’t even harp on the fact that she briefly battled food poisoning.
She felt “horrible” off the ice, but it didn’t affect her training.
“When I was skating,” Levito said, “I flipped a switch in my head.”
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni slams anti-Olympics protesters as ‘enemies of Italy and Italians’.
Published On 8 Feb 20268 Feb 2026
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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned anti-Olympics protesters as “enemies of Italy and Italians” after violence on the fringes of rallies in Milan and the alleged sabotage of train infrastructure.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also joined the criticism on Sunday, condemning violence linked to the protests in Milan on Saturday, stating such behaviour has no place at the Games.
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The incidents happened on the first full day of competition in the Winter Games that Milan is hosting along with the Alpine town of Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Meloni praised thousands of Italians who are working to keep the Games running smoothly, many of whom are volunteers.
“Then there are those who are enemies of Italy and Italians. The protesters demonstrate ‘against the Olympics,’ causing these images to end up on televisions around the world. After others cut the railway cables to prevent the trains from leaving,” the prime minister wrote in a statement on Facebook on Sunday.
The Italian Transport Ministry said that an investigation into suspected “terrorism” had been launched after the railway sabotage near the city of Bologna on Saturday and that those responsible would face a multimillion-euro damages claim.
Thousands of people took to the streets in Milan on Saturday to protest against the Olympics’ environmental and social consequences, including concerns over excessive public spending and ecological damage.
The march, which began peacefully, turned tense when some protesters set off smoke bombs and firecrackers near Olympic venues. Milan police responded with tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, leading to clashes in areas close to the Olympic Village and a nearby highway.
International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams told reporters on Sunday that peaceful protest is legitimate, but “we draw a line at violence”, which “has no place at the Olympic Games”.
Separately, protesters have also rallied against Israel’s participation in the games and against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which has deployed agents to provide security to the US delegation at the Games.
During Friday’s opening ceremony, Israel’s small delegation marched into Milan’s San Siro Stadium to a smattering of “boos” from the crowds. The four Israeli athletes, waving their national flag and smiling, saw the jeers quickly drowned out by the loud music and overall festive atmosphere.
United States Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, received a similar hostile reception when they appeared on the stadium’s big screen.
The opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Friday was marked by audible boos from the crowd as delegations from the US and Israel entered the San Siro stadium, Anadolu reports.
US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio led the American delegation.
As Vance appeared on the stadium’s big screen, waving the US flag, the crowd responded with jeers, according to live coverage of the event.
“There is the Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha. Oops — those are a lot of boos for him,” an announcer was heard saying during the broadcast.
The reaction followed days of tension surrounding the participation of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Olympic security.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the presence of Homeland Security Investigations personnel in Milan, prompting widespread protests and opposition from Italian lawmakers and citizens.
“They’re not welcome in Milan,” said Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala in a radio interview, calling ICE a “militia that kills.”
Thousands gathered in Piazza 25 Aprile last weekend to demonstrate against the agents’ presence and raise concerns about civil rights violations.
International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry responded to concerns ahead of the ceremony, saying: “I hope that the opening ceremony is seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful of each other.”
The Israeli delegation, which included nine Olympians and one Paralympian, also faced a “smattering of boos” as they entered the stadium, though the crowd noise was largely drowned out by music.
Additional protests were reported in Cortina d’Ampezzo and Predazzo, where simultaneous parades were held.
Security remains a top concern for several delegations, with increased attention to political sensitivities throughout the Games.
More than 800 athletes have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s offensive on Oct. 7, 2023, as the sports community continues to suffer under bombardment, famine, and the collapse of infrastructure, according to Palestinian officials.
MILAN — Italian police fired tear gas and a water cannon at dozens of protesters who threw firecrackers and tried to access a highway near a Winter Olympics venue Saturday.
The brief confrontation came at the end of a peaceful march by thousands highlighting the environmental impact of the Games and the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Italy.
Police held off the demonstrators, who appeared to be trying to reach the Santagiulia Olympic ice hockey rink. By then, the larger peaceful protest, including students and families with small children, had dispersed.
Earlier, a group of masked protesters had set off smoke bombs and firecrackers on a bridge overlooking a construction site about half a mile from the Olympic Village that’s housing about 1,500 athletes.
Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue. A heavy police presence guarded the entire route.
There was no indication that the protest and resulting road closure interfered with athletes’ transfers to their events, all on the outskirts of Milan.
The demonstration coincided with U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Milan as head of the American delegation that attended the opening ceremony Friday, during which Vance was booed.
He and his family visited Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” closer to the city center, far from the protest that denounced the deployment of ICE agents to provide security for the U.S. delegation. ICE has drawn international condemnation for its role in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown in U.S. cities, including the fatal shooting of two people in Minneapolis last month by ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents.
U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to assist with security. The ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdown in the U.S. is known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there is no indication its officers are being sent to Italy.
At the larger, peaceful demonstration, which police said numbered 10,000, people carried cardboard cutouts to represent trees felled to build the new bobsled run in Cortina d’Ampezzo. A group of dancers performed to beating drums. Music blasted from a truck leading the march, one a profanity-laced anti-ICE anthem.
“Let’s take back the cities and free the mountains,” read a banner by a group calling itself the Unsustainable Olympic Committee. Another group called the Assn. of Proletariat Excursionists organized the cutout trees.
“They bypassed the laws that usually are needed for major infrastructure projects, citing urgency for the Games,” said protester Guido Maffioli, who expressed concern that the private entity organizing the Games would eventually pass on debt to Italian taxpayers.
Homemade signs read “Get out of the Games: Genocide States, Fascist Police and Polluting Sponsors,” the final one a reference to fossil fuel companies that are sponsors of the Games. One woman carried an artificial tree on her back decorated with the sign: “Infernal Olympics.”
The demonstration followed another recently at which hundreds protested the deployment of ICE agents.
Like that protest, demonstrators Saturday said they were opposed to ICE agents’ presence, despite official statements that a small number of agents from an investigative arm would be present in U.S. diplomatic territory, and not operational on the streets.
Right before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, relay participants passed the torch for the final few times in central Milan. The flame began its journey across Italy in December, starting in Rome and travelling through all 110 Italian provinces.
MILAN — History didn’t begin in Italy, but it made a number of significant advances there. The foundations for representative government, the 365-day Julian calendar, modern sanitation, newspapers, roads and the postal system were established in Rome.
Centuries later, the rest of the world is still doing as the Romans do.
But if Rome is Italy’s past, Milan is its present and future.
It is the country’s financial center, home to the Italian stock exchange. It’s the world’s fashion center, home to luxury brands including Prada, Versace, Armani and Dolce & Gabbana. And it has one of the largest concentrations of millionaires in the world, one for every 12 of the city 1.37 million residents.
“It’s a city that’s becoming more global and global,” said Giorgio Ricci, the chief revenue officer for Inter Milan, the city’s top soccer club. “Milano is now a real ambassador of that Italian culture, from lifestyle to design to food and whatever.”
And now, like Rome in the summer of 1960, it also has the Olympic Games.
The Milan-Cortina Games are the first Olympics officially shared between two host cities and the most logistically complex Winter Games ever, taking place over 8,500 square miles of northern Italy. And though most of the medals will be awarded in the surrounding mountains at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Valtellina and Val di Fiemme, Milan will be the beating heart of the Games, much as it is the beating heart of the country.
The main opening ceremony will take place at San Siro, the 75,000-seat stadium that is home to the city’s two first-division soccer teams, Inter Milan and AC Milan. Figure skating, speedskating and men’s and women’s hockey will also be held at four other venues across the city.
San Siro in Milan will host the opening ceremonies for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
And that will happen, organizers say, whether the venues are ready or not — and one of them is not. The 11,800-seat Unipol Dome, which will be known as Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena during the Olympics, is one of just two competition venues that had to be constructed for the Games. It played host to the first games of the women’s hockey tournament Thursday despite the fact that construction crews were still administering the final touch-ups outside the building as Sweden was beating Germany in the opener.
“Do we have every area of that venue finished? No,” said Christophe Dubi, the International Olympic Committee‘s executive director for the Olympic Games said earlier this week. “Is it absolutely necessary for the Games? No. Everything that is public-facing, whether for media or athletes, will be first-class.”
Organizers certainly hope so because there’s a lot riding on these Games. If Milan can pull off an efficient, modern, sustainable and technologically “smart” event, it will reinforce the city’s status as one of the world’s top-tier global capitals, one with financial roots and a trendy multicultural image.
Fail in any one of those categories and Milan could suffer significant financial and reputational damage.
A singer busks late at night in Piazza del Doumo in Milan ahead of the Winter Olympic Games.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The competition is expected to draw 2.5 million people to Milan — many of them first-time visitors — while generating more than $7 billion in economic activity. Much of that spending went to upgrade the city’s and regional rail lines, which are expected to be overwhelmed given the spread-out nature of the Games.
Days before the Olympic torch was lit at San Siro, Milan’s Piazza del Duomo, which fronts the city’s elaborate Gothic cathedral, was packed with Olympic visitors, many wearing sweatshirts and jackets bearing the flags of their homelands. NBC will anchor its 700 hours of linear TV coverage from a temporary studio tower built in the square, with the iconic church as its backdrop.
Around the corner along the Via Orefici, which dates to the Middle Ages, many of the neighborhood’s trendy boutiques have hung neon signs with the Games logo, proclaiming themselves proud sponsors of the Olympics. At night, a singer who calls herself Anna Soprano performs a solo street opera.
However many locals have failed to catch Olympic fever with high ticket prices and fears about traffic, security measures and crowded Metro trains dampening enthusiasm.
An opera singer performs in Milan ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Buried beneath Milan’s rush to the modern from the Middle Ages — just beyond the Duomo Cathedral, which was begun in 1386, is the massive 15th Century Sforza Castle — lies a more recent history the city would just as soon forget. Milan was Italy’s Munich, the birthplace of Benito Mussolini’s fascist movement.
Yet it later became the center of anti-fascist resistance, with partisans seizing control of the city in the final days of World War II and executing Mussolini, hanging his corpse from the roof of an Esso station in the Piazzale Loreto. Milan marked that day by naming a prominent square in the city’s center April 25 Plaza for the day the uprising that liberated Milan began.
If Milan is modern Europe, some of the competition clusters outside the city, spread from Valtellina on the Swiss border in the north to Cortina d’Ampezzo, 27 miles south of the Austrian border, represent both the rustic and gentrifying Italy.
The scenic Fiemme Valley, site of cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and Nordic combined , is made up primarily of three small villages — Carano, Daiano and Varena — in the Dolomites mountain range. Despite a history of human activity that dates back more than 6,000 years, the area wasn’t officially established as the municipality of Val di Fiemme until the three townships merged in January 2020.
Today it is a major outdoor-sports destination, having played host to the FIS Nordic World Ski championship numerous times; in the summer it is a favored destination of hikers.
Valtellina, a 75-mile-long valley that runs along the Swiss border, will be the site of Alpine skiing, snowboarding, freestyle skiing and the debut sport of ski mountaineering. The region is known as the heart of the Alps and is a premier Alpine wine area, famous for the elegant reds that come from grapes grown on steep, terraced vineyards.
Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy will host multiple events during the 2026 Olympics.
Cortina d’Ampezzo, meanwhile, is a breathtakingly beautiful ski resort and outdoor sports paradise about 35 miles from the Austrian border. Unlike Valtellina and Val di Fiemme, which are rustic and traditional, Cortina is one of Europe’s most expensive ski towns, its streets lined with high-end stores, luxury hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants. For year-round residents, property prices are the highest in the Italian Alps.
It was scheduled to host the 1944 Winter Olympics before World War II intervened, delaying the its arrival until 1956, when 32 nations — the largest to attend a Winter Games at the time — competed in four sports and 24 events. This month it will be the site of the biathlon, Alpine skiing, curling and sliding sports (bobsled, luge and skeleton).
The new $140-million Cortina Sliding Centre, the second Olympic venue whose construction fell well behind schedule, was completed days before the opening ceremony but a cable car intended to carry spectators to the women’s ski events was not expected to be finished in time. That could lead to traffic jams since visitors will have to take their cars more than a mile up the mountain.
Born in Milan in 2000, Paralympic swimmer Simone Barlaam, is a 13-time world champion who won three golds and a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He’s a torchbearer and ambassador for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games, which run from 6-22 February (the Paralympic Games run from 6-15 March) at sites across Lombardy and north-east Italy (with events such as speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey in the city). He also worked as a graphic designer for the games.
Barlaam grew up in Milan and lives in NoLo (North of Loreto), a vibrant, artistic neighbourhood. “I’ve lived all over the place, so I can take you around the city and the places that belong to my heart,” he says. Here, he chooses his favourite spots, beyond obvious sights such as the Duomo, La Scala opera house and the glossy Quadrilatero della Moda fashion district.
A view over Parco Sempione and Sforza Castle in the heart of Milan. Photograph: Andrei Domanin/Alamy
Food
If I’m training, there’s this beautiful pastry shop next to my pool that I go to with my teammates after a long, hard session: Pasticceria Grossi in Piazzale Udine. It’s the best coffee place.
I like Panificio Storico Vailati on Via Vitruvio because the pastries are lovely, and it’s welcoming and warm – they treat you as if they’ve known you for the last 30 years.
Pizzeria da Mimmo near Chinatown has a special place in my heart because my parents always used to take us there for lunch. It’s a very small place and the pizza slices are very thick, soft and fluffy, like a cloud. Every time I go there, I feel like a kid again.
When I was a student, studying at the Politecnico di Milano, I would go to Grano e in Viale Romagna, where the food is very cheap and very fresh. If I want to treat myself I go to Ratanà on Via Gaetano de Castillia, it’s the restaurant of my friend and chef Cesare Battisti. It has traditional dishes like mondeghili, a type of fried meatball made of leftovers, and I think it does the best risotto in town. I also love a Vietnamese restaurant called Vietnam Mon Amour, where I used to go as a student. It’s tiny and the food is amazing.
Neighbourhood
Simone shopping in Milan’s Chinatown. Photograph: Laura Coffey
Via Paolo Sarpi, in Chinatown is a must, and comes alive at night. There are so many places to eat – restaurants as well as amazing street food places. There are a few karaoke places too – it’s fun to go with your friends and just sing and make a fool out of yourself.
Fashion
Milan is the city of Armani, and there is so much of Giorgio’s legacy here. It’s an incredible honour to have developed a race suit with them. When Giorgio passed away, I went to the funeral and the queue of people there to say goodbye was kilometres long. That showed how much people love him and how his legacy affected this city.
Inspiration
Simone finds visits to Milan’s old aquarium fascinating. Photograph: PhotoFires/Alamy
The Acquario Civico di Milano, one of the oldest aquariums in Europe, was built in the early 20th century. There are sculptures of the sea and fish around the building. Part of the aquarium is outside, with freshwater fish; most of the displays are dedicated to Italian aquatic environments, though inside there’s a little tropical aquarium too. What I love about water is the sense of freedom it gives me, because obviously, for a person with a disability, I’m very clumsy and not very graceful on land – but in the water, I’m fast and can be agile. It feels almost like flying. I could stay for hours just watching a fish swim in an aquarium, it’s mesmerising. I have this passion that I can’t really express in words about swimming creatures, they give me a kind of peace.
Green space
Milan is full of little green parks, but Parco Sempione is one of the best and it’s connected to the medieval Castello Sforzesco, the triumphal arch Arco della Pace and the excellent Museum of Triennale. It has so many cool events – live music, concerts, exhibitions – they are displaying original Olympic posters until 15 March.
Accessibility
Most of the time, Milan is an accessible city. It’s flat, and with the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games, there have been many renovations in the city. For example, they’ve finally built an elevator at the metro stop in front of my house. But obviously we cannot stop here and we need to always improve because like every part of Italy, Milan is full old buildings that need to be made more accessible.
Obviously, Milan is well known for its culture and museums but there are plenty of hidden gems, too. One of them is the L.O.V.E. statue by Maurizio Cattelan, a contemporary visual artist. This statue in front of Milan’s stock exchange is a giant middle finger, and not many tourists go to see it. It’s interesting: it’s made of marble but is so different to classical buildings. It’s as if it’s saying, “screw you” to the Milan stock exchange building, which was built during the Ventennio (Italy’s fascist dictatorship).
There are many other museums that I love, such as the Mudec, the Museum of the Cultures of Milan. The Museum of Natural History is tiny but it’s in a beautiful building in a beautiful park. At the weekend it’s crowded with kids. I used to be one of those kids, I’d go there all the time. Outside they have lifesize models of dinosaurs. It’s amazing to think they used to roam on the land that became Milan back in the day.
“Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie will not head to Milan for NBC’s 2026 Winter Olympics coverage as she deals with the ongoing police investigation into the suspected abduction of her mother.
“Savannah will not be joining us at the Olympics as she focuses on being with her family during this difficult time,” an NBC News representative said Tuesday in a statement. “Our hearts are with her and the entire Guthrie family as the search continues for their mother.”
Guthrie was scheduled to co-host NBC’s telecast of the Friday opening ceremonies for the Milan Cortina Games alongside Terry Gannon of NBC Sports. The network representative said alternative plans will be announced shortly.
June 2023 photo of Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie. (Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
(Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
Law enforcement officials believe Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her home outside of Tuscon, Ariz. on Saturday night. Police were called after relatives were told she missed the Sunday church service she regularly attends and did not find her at home.
Police found Nancy Guthrie’s cell phone, wallet, car and medication were left behind, indicating she did not leave voluntarily. She has no cognitive issues, but has limited physical mobility and could not walk far on her own, family members have told police.
On Tuesday, Lima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said at press briefing that authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will. He also said the department is aware of “reports circulating about possible ransom note(s)” in the case. TMZ reported on the existence of an alleged ransom note Tuesday, but Nanos did not verify the account,
According to law enforcement sources not authorized to speak about the case publicly, there was blood at the scene and someone appeared to have forced their way inside.
Guthrie, a “Today” co-host since 2012, has been off the program since Monday. She was scheduled to head to Milan early this week.
Guthrie’s mother, who lived on her own, has been an occasional on-air guest at “Today.” Her appearances made her a favorite of Guthrie’s co-workers and staff at the program.
Jordan Stolz will be trying to win multiple gold medals in speedskating the Milan Cortina Olympic Games.
(Morry Gash / Associated Press)
Since making his Olympic debut at 17, Stolz has become a star in international speedskating. He was the first man to win three world championships in one year in 2023 and repeated in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters in 2024. He also competes in the team pursuit. U.S. speedskating has several medal contenders, including two-time Olympic bronze medalist Brittany Bowe and gold medalist Erin Jackson, who became the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal at the Winter Olympics in 2022.
Not the sinister kind, who give away state secrets for money or revenge; Buckley is privy to much lower-level intelligence. But that doesn’t mean it’s not just as valuable to the people involved.
Buckley is the Kings’ goaltender coach and his chief pupil is Darcy Kuemper, who will be playing for Team Canada in the Milan Cortina Olympic hockey tournament. Buckley will be in Milan coaching for Team USA. And if the competition goes to form, Canada and the U.S. will meet in the final.
You can see where this is going.
So would Buckley give up the goods on his NHL goalie if it meant helping his national team win a gold medal?
“I probably have a little bit more insight being with him on a day-to-day basis. But at the end of the day, the players still have to execute,” said Buckley, like Kuemper, a first-time Olympian. “So if I tell someone to shoot somewhere at a certain time or a certain spot, they’re going to have to be able to execute that.”
The answer then is maybe.
Still, that’s a dilemma Buckley will probably never face since Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues, who was spectacular in goal in last year’s Four Nations Face-off, will probably start for Canada in Milan. But with the Kings sending four other players (defenseman Drew Doughty, Canada; and forwards Adrian Kempe, Sweden; Kevin Fiala, Switzerland; and Joel Armia, Finland) plus Canadian equipment manager Darren Granger to the Olympics, there’s a good chance guys who have shared a dressing room since September will be competing against one another.
Kings forward Kevin Fiala controls the puck while playing for Team Switzerland at the 2025 world championships.
(Michael Campanella / Getty Images)
The same goes for the Ducks, who are sending four players — goalie Lukas Dostal and defenseman Radko Gudas, Czechia; forward Mikael Granlund, Finland; and defenseman Jackson LaCombe, U.S. — to Milan. Ducks star Leo Carlsson, who was expected to start for Sweden, will miss the Games after undergoing surgery to repair a rare injury in his left thigh last month.
So while the Olympics may bring countries together, it also has the potential to turn teammates against one another — at least temporarily.
In the group stage of the tournament, for example, Armia and Finland will play against Kempe’s Sweden. And Canada, with Kuemper and Doughty, will face Switzerland, which is led by Fiala.
“It’s obviously going to be a little strange,” Gudas said. “It’s only for a few games. For that amount of time, you can put things aside a little bit.”
Those kinds of match-ups were rare in the last two Olympic tournaments since NHL players didn’t take part, sidelined by a dispute over insurance, travel costs and scheduling issues. This year 147 NHL players are on the 12 Olympic rosters, with all 32 NHL clubs represented.
Not all the top NHL players will be in Milan, however. Russia has been banned from the tournament because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, meaning Alexander Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer, won’t play.
Granlund, who won a bronze medal with Finland in 2014, the last time NHL players participated in the Olympics, is glad to be back.
“It was such a cool experience,” he said. “It’s one of the biggest honors I can have as a hockey player, playing for a country in the Olympics. There’s no player in the NHL who wouldn’t go.”
That’s due in large part to the rush that comes with wearing your country’s colors on your chest.
“It’s tough to explain how much it means,” he said. “You grow up in a country like Finland, watching the national team play. As a kid you’re dreaming to play for that team.
“Every single time you put that jersey on, it’s such a pride you feel.”
Doughty, who already has two gold medals, agreed, saying the only time he sings along with the Canadian anthem is at the Olympics.
Kings defenseman Drew Doughty controls the puck while playing for Canada in the Four Nations Face-Off last year.
(Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
“When we hear it in the NHL, I’m not singing,” he said. “But when you’re wearing a Canadian jersey, that’s one of the biggest moments you can have.”
Not just for the guys on the ice. Granger, the equipment manager, will be making his third trip to the Olympics with Canada. And the journey never gets old.
“It’s not something that you apply for. It’s something that you’re asked to do,” he said. “So I don’t take that lightly. It’s an honor.”
The equipment managers may have the most difficult job in the Olympic hockey tournament since they must prepare and maintain the sticks, skates, gloves and uniforms for 25 players, some of whom they’ve never met. That means checking in with the equipment managers of rival NHL teams to get prepared.
“We have quite a few players that are particular about certain things,” he said. “After a while, you just kind of get used to what those things are. If it’s a player that likes to use three sticks a game, then making sure he has that. If it’s a guy that likes to change gloves every other game, making sure you have enough.”
Yet if Canada wins the tournament, Granger’s reward won’t be a gold medal. Olympic rules say medals only go to the players, leaving the equipment managers, trainers and coaches — even coaches with inside information like Buckley — out in the cold.
“That’s OK,” Buckley said. “I just want the players to get one.”
Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta’s move to AC Milan has been called off because of issues with his medical.
But Palace are still set to sign Wolves forward Jorgen Strand Larsen in a £48m deal before Monday’s 19:00 GMT transfer deadline.
France forward Mateta, who has been nursing a knee issue, had an initial medical examination on Sunday followed by additional tests on Monday.
The Italian club have now pulled out of the £30m deal for the 28-year-old, who wants to leave Selhurst Park.
Palace had been unwilling to let him go without having a replacement, but agreed a deal for Strand Larsen and granted Mateta permission to have an initial medical in London before flying to Milan.
Nottingham Forest have also been interested in the striker and had a £35m bid rejected by Palace last weekend.
After the 1-1 draw at Forest on Sunday, Palace manager Oliver Glasner said: “I expect either Mateta or someone else here as a striker.
“Everybody is really working very hard, but it is so close to the end of the window, so it makes it more difficult. I always try to be positive, so I hope.
“Worst case, we sell Mateta and no-one comes in, then it’s not a good window for Palace.”
MILAN, Italy — Two years before the Los Angeles Olympics, the United States is already dominating the narrative in the run-up to the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
International Olympic Committee officials, including President Kirsty Coventry, couldn’t avoid questions relating to ICE and the Jeffrey Epstein files at a news conference in Milan, Italy, on Sunday.
Coventry tried to fend them off by saying it was not the IOC’s place to comment on the issues, but when pressed remarked it was “sad” that such stories were deflecting attention away from the upcoming Olympics.
“I think anything that is distracting from these Games is sad, right? But we’ve learned over the many years … there’s always been something that has taken the lead, leading up to the Games,” Coventry said. “Whether it has been Zika, COVID, there has always been something.
“But what is keeping my faith alive is that when that opening ceremony happens and those athletes start competing, suddenly the world remembers the magic and the spirit that the Games have and they get to suddenly remember what’s actually important and they get to be inspired, and so we’re really looking forward to that.”
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Saturday in Milan to protest the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during the upcoming Winter Olympics, although agents would be stationed in a control room and not operating on the streets.
Meanwhile, the latest collection of government files released on Epstein includes emails from 2003 between Casey Wasserman, the head of the Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee, and Epstein’s one-time girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
“From all the information that we have and I believe that the U.S. authorities, as the other authorities, have made all the clarifications needed, so from our side that’s not for us to further comment on that part of the security. But we’re really looking forward to the Games,” Coventry said when asked about the presence of ICE agents in Milan.
She was even less responsive when asked about Wasserman.
“We didn’t discuss it yesterday and I believe Mr. Wasserman has put out his statement and we now have nothing further to add,” said Coventry, who was elected just over 10 months ago as the first female IOC president.
The upcoming Olympics run from Friday through Feb. 22. U.S. Vice President JD Vance will lead an American delegation to the Milan-Cortina Games and attend the opening ceremony.
