It’s not uncommon for Winter Olympic 2026 host cities to face a race against time to get all venues ready before the Games begin. However, the upcoming Winter Games in Milan-Cortina might be pushing the limits of this tight timeline. The century-old sliding centre is being completely rebuilt for the Winter Olympic 2026.
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This is running so far behind schedule that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has demanded a backup plan. This could involve relocating the bobsled, luge, and skeleton events to Lake Placid, New York if the track in Italy isn’t completed in time. With just one year to go until the opening ceremony on February 6, 2026, the Cortina track is still only half finished.
The IOC has set a hard deadline for the end of March for the track’s pre-certification, but there’s uncertainty about whether it will be ready to meet the necessary standards. Fabio Saldini, the Italian government commissioner overseeing the 118 million euro ($123 million) project. Assured The Associated Press during a recent visit that nearly 70% of the track is completed, despite the muddy and chaotic state of the construction site.
Cortina Sliding Track Construction Making Rapid Progress
With 180 workers on-site from 6 am to 1 am daily, the first layer of ice is scheduled to be applied at the beginning of March. Salvini said that we have strong support from the construction companies and the government. And Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini. With everyone’s help, we are confident we will finish on time.
Winter Olympic 2026: The construction, which began less than a year ago, is unprecedented in its rapid pace, as no sliding track has ever been built in such a short period. An official test event is planned for October, a crucial milestone that has gained added significance. Following the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training crash just hours before the 2010 Vancouver Games’ opening ceremony.
Lake Placid was selected for the backup plan because it offered a track with no associated costs. The IOC had initially preferred to use an existing track in nearby Austria or Switzerland. Rather than rebuild the Cortina venue, which has been closed since 2008. However, the local organizing committee was given the autonomy to choose the Plan B option.
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Winter Olympic: Lake Placid Backup Plan and Environmental Concerns
We chose Lake Placid because it was the only location where they provided the track without requiring any financial investment from us, explained Milan-Cortina CEO Andrea Varnier. That said, we are fully committed to holding the sliding events here in Cortina. Organizing committee president Giovanni Malagò downplayed the backup plan, stating that it’s merely a formality. There’s no real substance to it.
Winter Olympic 2026: Environmental groups have raised concerns about the climate impact of the Cortina track’s reconstruction. Saldini explained that there were 800 trees cut down. But not all of them were 100 years old, as some have claimed. Once the project is finished, we’ll plant 10,000 trees to compensate.
Shifting the sliding events from the glamorous Cortina to Lake Placid would represent a significant change. General ticket sales for the 2026 Winter Games are about to open, following a pre-registration process. That generated more than 350,000 requests, with 70% of those coming from overseas across 210 countries.
Sliding events are among the most affordable attractions at the Games, with luge tickets priced as low as 40 euros ($42) and bobsled tickets costing up to 100 euros ($104). However, questions remain about what will happen to ticket holders if the Cortina sliding track isn’t ready, and events are moved to Lake Placid.
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Historic Winter Sports Venues Ready for Milano Cortina Olympics
It will be a completely different experience, said Paul Caine, president of hospitality package provider On Location. Regarding the possibility of moving from the glamorous Cortina to upstate New York. Caine pointed out that nobody wanted to go to Tahiti for the surfing events in French Polynesia during last year’s Paris Games.
Hospitality packages for the sailing competitions in Marseille located 3 ½ hours by train from Paris were still in high demand. So far, On Location has received requests for hospitality packages from 62 countries, with ice hockey, biathlon, and figure skating being the most popular sports. Private boxes for the opening ceremony at the iconic San Siro soccer stadium have already sold out.
Bormio, Anterselva, and Val di Fiemme all have a rich history of hosting winter sports events. These Games will be the first to fully implement the cost-cutting reforms introduced by IOC President Thomas Bach, focusing on using mostly existing venues. This approach has resulted in the Games being spread across northern Italy.
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Alpine Skiing Split Across Cortina and Bormio for Winter Olympic 2026
Alpine skiing events will be split between Cortina (for the women) and Bormio (for the men), with the two locations separated by a 5 ½-hour drive. Livigno will host freestyle skiing and snowboarding, biathlon will take place in Anterselva. Nordic events will be held in Val di Fiemme, and ice sports will be in Milan.
It’s very complicated due to the large distances and the different representatives in each region, Varnier explained. We have excellent relationships with everyone, but each region has its way of doing things, so we need to adapt to them. That’s the spirit of these Games: We adapt to the different territories, not the other way around.
One of the reasons the organizing committee is adjusting to each venue is that most of these locations have a rich history of hosting World Cup races and world championships. For instance, Bormio hosted the Alpine Skiing World Championships in 1985 and 2005. Cortina held the event in 2021 and has been the venue for over 100 World Cup ski races.
Anterselva has welcomed six biathlon World Championships since 1975, and Val di Fiemme has hosted three Nordic World Championships. However, this rich history of hosting prestigious events doesn’t help athletes like Ester Ledecka. The Czech star won golds in both Alpine skiing and snowboarding at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
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