The countdown is well and truly on for the 2026 Winter Olympics, with the Italian hosts of Milano Cortina preparing to welcome the world for a spectacular festival of snow and ice sports next February. With the opening ceremony now just weeks away, the full daily schedule for the Games has been released, detailing all 116 medal events across 19 action-packed days.
British Hopes and Host Venues
Team GB will be aiming to improve on its two-medal haul from the Beijing 2022 Games, where victories came solely from the curling rink. Eve Muirhead led the women's team to gold, while Bruce Mouat's men secured a silver. This time, expectations are higher for success across a broader range of disciplines. Regular World Cup performances in snowboarding, snowboard cross, and freestyle skiing suggest British athletes could challenge for the podium on the slopes as well as on the ice.
The 2026 Games will be spread across four distinct geographical zones in northern Italy. Milano will host the opening and closing ceremonies alongside ice hockey, speed skating, and figure skating. The Valtellina zone will stage freestyle skiing and snowboard events. Cortina d'Ampezzo is the venue for women's Alpine skiing and sliding sports like curling, skeleton, and luge. Finally, Val di Fiemme will welcome the ski jumping and cross-country skiing competitions.
The Complete Olympic Timeline
The Games officially commence on Wednesday, 4 February 2026, with the first mixed doubles curling matches. The grand Opening Ceremony follows on Friday, 6 February, marking the formal start of the festivities. From there, a relentless schedule of world-class sport unfolds until the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, 22 February.
Key Dates and Gold Medal Events
The first gold medals of Milano Cortina 2026 will be awarded on Saturday, 7 February (Day 1). The five events concluding that day are:
- Men's Downhill (Alpine Skiing)
- Women's 10km+10km Skiathlon (Cross-Country Skiing)
- Women's Normal Hill Individual (Ski Jumping)
- Men's Snowboard Big Air
- Women's 3000m (Speed Skating)
The following day, Sunday, 8 February, sees eight golds decided, including the Women's Downhill and the Mixed Biathlon Relay. The busiest day for medal events is Saturday, 21 February (Day 15), with a whopping ten golds up for grabs, spanning the Men's 50km Cross-Country mass start, the Four-Man Bobsleigh, and the final Freestyle Skiing and Short Track Speed Skating finals.
The Games culminate on Sunday, 22 February with four final gold medal events. The morning session features the highly anticipated Women's Curling Gold Medal Match, followed by the Men's Ice Hockey Gold Medal Match. The Four-Man Bobsleigh and Women's 50km Mass Start Classic in Cross-Country Skiing will also crown their champions before the Closing Ceremony brings the curtain down on the XXV Olympic Winter Games.
For British fans, the curling tournaments once again offer strong medal potential, with round-robin matches beginning on Wednesday, 11 February for the men and Thursday, 12 February for the women. The medal matches are scheduled for the final weekend, promising a thrilling climax to the Games.
How to Follow the Action
With events starting as early as 8:55 AM GMT and concluding near 10:40 PM GMT on some days, viewers in the UK will have extensive coverage to enjoy. The distributed nature of the venues across the Italian Alps promises stunning backdrops for every discipline, from the technical precision of figure skating in Milan to the raw speed of the downhill in Cortina.
All times listed in the official schedule are in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), making it simple for UK audiences to plan their viewing. As the one-year countdown milestone passes, the detailed schedule allows athletes and fans alike to mark their calendars for what promises to be an unforgettable Winter Olympics in the heart of Europe.
