OLYMPICS: IOC confident Milano-Cortina Games will be ready despite last-gasp push

MILAN – The Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics are set to deliver the greatest winter sports show on earth, despite last-minute efforts to complete key venues, including the much-delayed Santagiulia ice hockey stadium, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Sunday.

Organizers are racing to finish venues in Milan and the mountain clusters. On Saturday, Reuters reported that a cable car in Cortina, intended to transport spectators to the women’s alpine skiing events, may not be ready in time for the Games’ February 6 opening.

Still, Olympic officials are confident the venues will be ready for the first Winter Games in the European Alps in 20 years.

“The preparation is going extremely well,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry said at a press conference. “The team is working very hard. All stakeholders are working really well. We are exactly where we need to be.”

The 2026 Olympics are more spread out than previous winter editions, with mountain clusters in Cortina, Bormio, Livigno, and Val di Fiemme—all several hours from the Milan venues. Transportation, especially in the mountains, is among the organizers’ biggest challenges.

“Yes, it is a little more spread out. The organizing committee has made the best possible opportunities available to all stakeholders to be as successful as they would in any other Games. We have to see how the Games will unfold,” Coventry said, overseeing her first Olympics as IOC president since being elected last year.

Aside from the mountain venues, organizers are working to get the Santagiulia stadium ready for competition. IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi expressed confidence that everything will be in place when the puck drops.

Construction delays at the southeast Milan arena, which will seat 15,300 fans, became one of the main headaches in the run-up to the Games. Testing of the venue only began in January, hosting 4,000 fans per match during the Final Four event of Italy’s Championship and the 2025/2026 Italian Cup.

The Games will also mark the return of NHL players to the Olympics for the first time since 2014.

“Do we have every single space in that venue finished? No,” Dubi said. “Is it absolutely needed for the Games? No. Anything that is public-facing, anything that is media or athletes, will be absolutely top. Do we still have work? Yes. Still work ongoing, frantic as you say, to make it a really great venue.” -Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris/Reuters