A look at the venues for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina

MILAN (AP) — Next year’s Winter Olympics might be called the Milan Cortina Games but they will actually be staged across a large swath of northern Italy.

Covering an area of more than 22,000 square kilometres (nearly 10,000 square miles), the 2026 Games will be the most widespread Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics ever.

And that’s even if a trip across the Atlantic doesn’t have to be factored in.

If organizers aren't able to finish the sliding center in time, the backup plan is to host the bobsled, luge and skeleton events in Lake Placid, New York.

The two main clusters of the Games are Milan — the beating heart of Italy's industrial north — and Cortina d'Ampezzo, a posh winter resort in the Dolomites mountain range, about 280 kilometres (170 miles) northeast of Milan.

In addition, athletes will compete in three other mountain clusters, while the closing ceremony will be held in Verona, the largest city in the northeastern Veneto region.

Milan Cortina will be the first Winter Games to fully embrace cost-cutting reforms installed by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and use mostly existing venues.

Here's a closer look at them:

Milan

1. San Siro Stadium. The opening ceremony will be held in Milan’s iconic 80,000-seat San Siro stadium. The arena has been the long-time home of the city’s two famous soccer teams — AC Milan and Inter Milan — and has also hosted other sporting events as well as concerts.

2. Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. A year ago, the 16,000-seat arena that’s supposed to welcome back NHL players to the Olympics was still a giant construction pit. But work has been carried out rapidly and the skeleton of the facility now rises 35 meters (115 feet) above street level, serving as a majestic sight to those arriving into the southeastern periphery of Milan. After the Olympics, the multipurpose facility being built by private investors is likely to become the next destination of the ATP Finals. The tennis tournament's contract with Turin expires this year.

3. Ice Park. While all the ice hockey finals will be held in the Santagiulia Arena, some matches will take place in the Fiera Milano exhibition venue, which will also host the speed skating. The so-called Ice Park will occupy four pavilions of the huge exhibition center and comprise the Speed Skating Stadium and the Rho Ice Hockey Arena. The trade fair complex, which opened in 2005 in the northwest of Milan, will use temporary structures for the Games.

4. Ice Skating Arena. Short-track speed skating and figure skating events will take place in the Forum di Milano, a multipurpose facility that is mainly used for basketball, ice hockey and tennis as well as live concerts. The 12,500-capacity venue in the southwestern outskirts of Milan was opened in 1990 and renovated in 2017, the year before it hosted the figure skating world championships.

Cortina

5. Tofane Alpine Skiing Center. Regularly referred to as the queen or the pearl of the Dolomites, Cortina hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956. The Olympia delle Tofane course will be the site of the women’s Alpine skiing next year. One of the most iconic slopes in the world, it is a regular stop on the women’s World Cup circuit and also held the world championships in 2021.

6. Curling Olympic Stadium. Curling will take place in the Olympic Ice Stadium, one of the legacies of the 1956 Games, when it also hosted the opening ceremony. The arena — and Cortina in general — was also where scenes took place in “For Your Eyes Only,” the 1981 James Bond film starring Roger Moore.

7. Cortina Sliding Center. The century-old sliding center in Cortina is being completely rebuilt for the 2026 Winter Olympics. But it's unclear whether the work will be finished in time, so the IOC has demanded a backup plan that would require moving bobsled, luge and skeleton events all the way to Lake Placid, New York. The IOC has set a deadline for the end of next month for pre-certification of the Cortina track. Fabio Saldini, the Italian government commissioner in charge of the 118 million euro ($123 million) project, told The Associated Press during a recent visit that almost 70% of the track was completed.

Bormio

The men’s Alpine skiing will take place on the fearsome Stelvio course, a regular stop on the men’s World Cup circuit. Veteran Italian skier Christof Innerhofer told the AP recently that he can’t remember a tougher course at the Olympics in the past 30 years. The Stelvio Ski Center will also be the venue for ski mountaineering, which will be making its Olympic debut.

8. Distance from Milan: 204 kilometres (127 miles).

9. Distance from Cortina: 308 kilometres (191 miles).

Livigno

Known as the “Little Tibet” of the Italian Alps, Livigno will host the sports that are perhaps most popular among young people. Snowboarding and freestyle skiing will be held at Livigno Snow Park and Livigno Aerials and Moguls Park, with a total of 26 medals awarded. The small town in Valtellina, near the border with Switzerland, proudly unveiled the Aerials and Moguls Park in December, boasting that it had delivered the first 2026 Olympic venue.

10. Distance from Milan: 234 kilometres (145 miles).

11. Distance from Cortina: 276 kilometres (171 miles).

Predazzo

Surrounded by the peaks of the Dolomites, Predazzo will be a stunning setting for the ski jumping events — both the discipline itself and as part of Nordic Combined. Predazzo is the most populated municipality in Val di Fiemme, an area which has a rich history of hosting Nordic skiing world championships and World Cup races. The ski jumping facility spans an area of 3,000 square meters (32,000 square feet) and consists of two main ramps for international competitions as well as training ramps and other equipped spaces for athletes.

12. Distance from Milan: 326 kilometres (202 miles).

13. Distance from Cortina: 82 kilometres (51 miles).

Tesero

The cross-country skiing will take place in Tesero, less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from Predazzo. The cross-country skiing stadium was opened in 1990, the year before the area hosted the Nordic World Ski Championships for the first time.

14. Distance from Milan: 316 kilometres (196 miles).

15. Distance from Cortina: 92 kilometres (57 miles).

Anterselva

Biathlon will take place in Anterselva, which has 60 kilometres (40 miles) of tracks and is nestled in the South Tyrol mountains. The Anterselva Biathlon Arena has a rich history with the sport, having hosted the World Championships multiple times since the 1970s. It also hosts World Cup races every year. The town itself, which is near the border with Austria, has a unique cultural heritage: more than 98% of the population speak German as their mother tongue, with Italian and Ladin as second languages.

16. Distance from Milan: 370 kilometres (230 miles).

17. Distance from Cortina: 50 kilometres (31 miles).

Verona

The closing ceremony will take place at the historic Verona Arena, a large Roman amphitheatre built almost 2,000 years ago that is mainly used to host large-scale opera performances.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games