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The Milano Cortina 2026 Games
Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, 450km apart in north-west Italy, submitted the first successful dual-city bid to host a Winter Olympics. They beat another dual-city bid by Swedish cities Stockholm and Åre 47-34. It was the third time the Winter Olympics had been held in Italy. In 1956 Contina d’Ampezzo hosted the Games. This time Milan hosted the ice events with the others spread around the region.
Ski mountaineering was the only new sport introduced. There were 1338 female competitors, the most at any Winter Olympics. These games achieved a historic milestone in gender balance, with women comprising 47% of all particpating athletes. There were 50 women-only events and 12 mixed-gender events.
The opening ceremony was held at Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium, and the closing ceremony took place at Verona Stadium.
Games Key Facts
- Sports
- 16
- Events
- 116
- Competitors
- 2871
- Countries competing
- 92
- Number of venues
- 13
NZ Team Key Facts
- Athletes
- 17 (11 men, 6 women)
- Sports
- 3
- Medals won
- 3 (2 silver, 1 bronze)
- Position on medal table
- 22nd
- Chef de Mission
- Martin Toomey
- Opening ceremony flagbearers
- Ben Barclay and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott
- Closing ceremony flagbearer
- Luca Harrington
Memorable Moments
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Zoi Sadowski-Synnott became the most decorated Olympic snowboarder in the world
Zoi was the top qualifier in both her snowboard events, the big air and slopestyle. She produced magnificent performances - 83.50 in the big air and 87.48 in the slopestyle - to claim silver in both. In the slopestyle, she was within a whisker of depriving Mari Fukada of Japan the gold medal.
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Luca Harrington became the fourth NZ athlete to win a Winter Olympics medal
Luca grabbed bronze in the men's freeski slopestyle event after qualifying ninth he uncorked a superb final run that earned him 85.15 and lifted him from ninth to place on the podium.
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Alice Robinson finished 8th in both her events
This was Alice’s third Olympic Games, and she now joins 1992 silver medallist Annelise Coberger as just one of two New Zealand alpine skiers to finish in the top eight of an Olympic event. With 75 athletes in the Giant Slalom and 43 in the Super-G, Alice was up against highly competitive, world-class fields in both events.
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Fin Melville Ives was a favourite in the men's free skiing halfpipe event
At just 19 years old, he showed incredible resilience during Olympic qualifying. After a heavy crash on his second run, he was stretchered from the course and taken to hospital. Thankfully, he regained consciousness shortly after and even kept his sense of humour intact. Despite suffering a broken collarbone.
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The NZ Team contained a set of twins and another set of brothers
Fin and Cam Melville Ives are twins, with Fin competing in freeski halfpipe and Cam in snowboard halfpipe. Brothers Luca and Ben Harrington also represented New Zealand in freeskiing, with Luca competing in big air and slopestyle, and Ben lining up in the halfpipe.
Recognition and Awards
2026 Halberg Awards
Sportswoman of the Year - Zoi Sadowski-Synnott