The 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics are approaching! While it is a significant and colossal event, some on social media argue that the Winter Games are often not as recognized as the Summer Games. One person states through the social media platform Reddit, “Everything about the Winter Olympics points to it being less popular. There are far fewer events. There’s less than a third of the medals awarded during the Winter Olympics than [in the] summer. The nature of the events are also less popular.”
Winter sports have followings in a limited number of countries.” Sean O’Leary, writer for Medium, even writes an article about his opinion on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics being “depressing.” While there might not be as many sports in the Winter Olympics, it is still good to be informed of what events will occur. The Olympics and Paralympics will use eight locations in the 2026 Winter Games, and over a hundred events will occur. Here’s a list of what to expect.
- Anterselva/Antholz, Trentino Alto
Photo credit: Olympics
The Biathlon is one sport that will take place in Anterselva/Antholz’s snowy area. The biathlon is a mixture of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. This sport has been around for more than a century and has proven to be difficult, as not only does someone have to control their stamina throughout the long-distance sport, but they must also control their breath when shooting. There are five targets to hit, and if you miss one shot, you must take a 150-meter penalty before leaving the area. According to the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics website, there will be eleven events for this sport, and they entail:
Men:
- 10 km sprint
- 20 km individual
- 12.5 km pursuit
- 15 km mass start
- 4 x 7.5 km relay
Women:
- 7.5 km sprint
- 15 km individual
- 10 km pursuit
- 12.5 km mass start
- 4 x 6 km relay
Mixed:
- 4 x 6 km relay
- Bormio, Lombardy
In Bormio, Lombardy, two sports will occur: Ski Mountaineering and Men’s Alpine Skiing. In ski mountaineering, athletes must go uphill and then downhill a mountain tirelessly while maintaining a good pace. During alpine skiing, athletes must endure fast disciplines and require quick reaction time to make correct pivots and turns. There will be three ski mountaineering events and five alpine skiing events. Only the men’s alpine skiing will take place in Bormio, as the women’s will take place in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Ski Mountaineering:
- Men’s Sprint
- Women’s Sprint
- Mixed Relay
Alpine Skiing:
- Men’s Downhill
- Men’s Super-G
- Men’s Slalom
- Men’s Giant Slalom
- Combined (men and women)
- Cortina d’Ampezzo, Veneto
In Cortina d’Ampezzo, a total of eight sports will take place: Bobsleigh, Curling, Women’s Alpine Skiing, Skeleton, Sledding (also known as Luge), Wheelchair Curling, Para Alpine Skiing, and Para Snowboarding. The Paralympics will also have its closing ceremony on March 15th, and the mayor of Milan will pass the Paralympic flag to the mayor of the following city hosting. There are three events for bobsleigh and curling, five events in women’s alpine skiing, three for skeleton and sledding/luge, one for wheelchair curling, five for para-alpine skiing, and three for para snowboarding.
Bobsleigh:
- Men’s Four-Man
- Two-man (Men’s and Women’s)
- Women’s Monobob
Curling:
- Men’s Event
- Women’s Event
- Mixed Doubles
Women’s Alpine Skiing:
- Women’s Downhill
- Women’s Super-G
- Women’s Slalom
- Women’s Giant Slalom
- Combined (men and women)
Skeleton:
- Men’s individual
- Women’s individual
- Mixed event
Sledding/Luge:
- Women’s and men’s singles
- Men’s and women’s doubles
- Team relay
Wheelchair Curling:
- Mixed team
Para Alpine Skiing:
- Special slalom
- Giant slalom
- Super G
- Downhill
- Super combined
Para Snowboard:
- Banked slalom
- Snowboard cross
- Giant slalom
- Livigno, Lombardy
In Livigno, Lombardy, only two sports will take place. However, this location has twenty-six events: fifteen for freestyle skiing and eleven for snowboarding. Although this place only has two sports, it has one of the most events hosted in the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics. These events are:
Freestyle Skiing:
- Aerials (men and women)
- Moguls (men and women)
- Dual moguls (men and women)
- Ski cross (men and women)
- Freeski Halfpipe (men and women)
- Freeski Slopestyle (men and women)
- Freeski Big Air (men and women)
- Mixed team aerials
Snowboarding:
- Parallel giant slalom (men and women)
- Snowboard cross (men and women)
- Halfpipe (men and women)
- Slopestyle (men and women)
- Big air (men and women)
- Mixed team snowboard cross
- Milan, Lombardy
In Milan, Lombardy, most of the Olympics and Paralympics will revolve around there, as most indoor sports will take place in this location, making it the hotspot of this vast sporting event. The Olympics will also say “hello” to Milan with its opening ceremony in the San Siro Stadium on February 4th. In Milan, there are a total of five sports and twenty-eight events. Five for figure skating, two for ice hockey, nine for short-track speed skating, fourteen for speed skating, and one for para ice hockey.
Figure Skating:
- Men’s singles
- Women’s singles
- Artistic pairs
- Ice dance
- Team competition
Ice Hockey:
- Men’s tournament
- Women’s tournament
Short Track Speed Skating:
- Team relay, 500m, 1000m, 1500m (men and women)
- Men’s 5000m
- Women’s 3000m
- Mixed team relay: 2000m
Speed Skating:
- 500m (men’s and women’s)
- 1000m (men’s and women’s)
- 1500m (men’s and women’s)
- 3000m (women’s)
- 5000m (men’s and women’s)
- 10000m (men’s)
- Team pursuit (men’s and women’s)
- Mass start (men’s and women’s)
Para Ice Hockey:
- Men’s and Women’s
- Predazzo, Trentino Alto Adige
Not much will occur here in Predazzo, Trentino Alto Adige, as there will only be two sports: Nordic Combined, a mix of cross-country skiing and ski jumping, and regular Ski Jumping. For Nordic Combined, only the ski jumping aspect will be hosted here, as the other one will be in Tesero, Trentino Alto Adige, which is closeby. There will be nine events, three for Nordic combined and six for ski jumping. They are:
Nordic Combined:
- Individual Gundersen NH small hill/10 km
- Individual Gundersen LH large hill/10 km
- Individual Gundersen LH large hill/2×7,5 km race
Ski Jumping:
- Individual small hill (men’s and women’s)
- Individual large hill (men’s and women’s)
- Super team (men’s)
- Mixed team
- Tesero, Trentino Alto Adige
In Tesero, Trentino Alto Adige, a decent number of events and sports will be played. The sports included are Cross-Country Skiing, Nordic Combined (this will be the cross-country skiing aspect of the sport, as the ski jumping part is in Predazzo), Para Biathlon, and Para Cross-Country Skiing. In this location, there will be a lot of events, and they are all listed below.
Cross-Country Skiing:
- 10 + 10 km skiathlon (men’s and women’s)
- Sprint (men’s and women’s)
- Freestyle team sprint (men’s and women’s)
- Relay 4×7.5 km (men’s and women’s)
- 10 km freestyle (men’s and women’s)
- 50 km classical technique (men’s and women’s)
Nordic Combined:
- Individual Gundersen NH small hill/10 km
- Individual Gundersen LH large hill/10 km
- Individual Gundersen LH large hill/2×7,5 km race
Para Biathlon:
- Men’s 7.5 km
- Men’s 15 km
- Women’s 6 km
- Women’s 10 km
- Men’s and Women’s 12.5 km
Para Cross-Country Skiing:
- Men’s and Women’s 5 km sprint
- Men’s and Women’s 10 km sprint
- Men’s and Women’s 20 km sprint
- Relay team (classic or freestyle techniques)
- Verona, Veneto
Finally, in Verona, Veneto, the Olympics will conclude with its closing ceremony on February 22nd. The Winter Paralympics will have its Opening Ceremony after the Olympics Closing Ceremony on March 6th. Here, a stunning performance will be made to wrap up the Olympics, and at the end, the Olympic flag will be passed onto the next city that will host the 2030 Winter Olympic Games.