Winter Olympics 2026 Schedule, & Timings for Each Event

The Winter Olympics 2026 in Milano–Cortina bring together snow and ice sports across northern Italy, packed into a tight February schedule. Over a little more than two weeks, fans get 116 medal events, daily competitions, and ceremonies in some of the most iconic stadiums and mountain venues in Europe.

This guide focuses on how the days are organised, which dates matter most, and how to read the timetable and convert times from Central European Time (CET) to your own time zone. You can use it as a reference for your blog, fan site, or personal viewing plan.

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Key dates of the Winter Olympics 2026

The Milano–Cortina Games are centred on February 2026, with an early start for some competitions and a dramatic finish in Verona.

• Early competition days: 4–5 February 2026
• Opening Ceremony: 6 February 2026 — San Siro, Milan
• Core competition period: 7–21 February 2026
• Closing Ceremony: 22 February 2026 — Verona Arena

Here is a compact overview of the most important days:

Date (2026)	Highlight	Location / focus area
4–5 Feb	Early rounds and qualification sessions	Ice venues (e.g. curling)
6 Feb	Opening Ceremony	San Siro, Milan
7–21 Feb	Daily competitions & medal events	Milan, Cortina & Alpine hubs
22 Feb	Closing Ceremony and final celebrations	Verona Arena

Even if you don’t plan to follow every sport, marking these anchor dates helps you understand the flow of the entire event.

Full Schedule

Winter Olympics 2026 Schedule, Timings for Each Event

February 4–22, 2026 • Milano–Cortina

OC Opening ceremony Event competitions 1 Medal events (count) CC Closing ceremony

Event	February 2026																			Events
	4Wed	5Thu	6Fri	7Sat	8Sun	9Mon	10Tue	11Wed	12Thu	13Fri	14Sat	15Sun	16Mon	17Tue	18Wed	19Thu	20Fri	21Sat	22Sun
Ceremonies			OC																CC	—
Alpine skiing				1	1	1	1	1	1		1	1	1		1					10
Biathlon						1		1	1		1	1	2		1	1		1	1	11
Bobsleigh																1	1		1	4
Cross-country skiing				1	1		2		1	1	1	1		2		1	1			12
Curling							1										1	1	3
Figure skating					1			1			1			1					5
Freestyle skiing				1	1	1	1		1	1	1	1	1	1	2	3				15
Ice hockey															1			1	2
Luge				1		1	2	1											5
Nordic combined												1		1		1			3
Short-track speed skating							1		2		1		1		2		2		9
Skeleton														1	1	1			3
Ski jumping				1		1	1		1	1									6
Ski mountaineering																	2		1	3
Snowboarding				1	2	1		2	2		1		1	1					11
Speed skating				1	1	1		1	1	1		2		1	1		2		14
Daily medal events	0	0	0	5	8	5	9	8	9	7	8	9	6	7	8	7	6	10	4	116
Cumulative total	0	0	0	5	13	18	27	35	44	51	59	68	74	81	89	96	102	112	116	—

Tip: On mobile, swipe sideways inside the table to see all dates.

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How the daily competition flow works

The Winter Olympics 2026 schedule is designed so that every day offers action, with medal events built around the middle and final sections of the Games.

Early stage (4–6 February)

• The first two days (4–5 February) are used mainly for early competition sessions.
• You’ll see mixed doubles curling and other qualification rounds get started.
• These days are light on medals but crucial for seeding and setting up the brackets.

Core medal period (7–21 February)

From 7 February onwards, the schedule becomes much more intense:

• The first weekend (7–8 February) already features multiple medal events in sports like Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing and speed skating.
• Through the middle of the month, several days carry seven to nine medal events, blending snow and ice sports:
  • Daytime usually focuses on Alpine, cross-country, freestyle, snowboard and biathlon.
  • Evening sessions highlight short-track, figure skating, ice hockey and curling.
• The final weekend (especially 21 February) is one of the busiest medal periods, with a heavy concentration of podium moments.

Final day and closing (22 February)

• Most medal events are wrapped up by 21 February.
• 22 February centres on the Closing Ceremony at Verona Arena, with a small number of events or exhibitions earlier in the day if scheduled.

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Medal events by sport at Winter Olympics 2026

The overall programme includes 116 medal events across the main Winter Olympic disciplines. The distribution gives a good idea of where the busiest days come from.

Sport / Discipline	Medal events (approx.)
Alpine skiing	10
Biathlon	11
Bobsleigh	4
Cross-country skiing	12
Curling	3
Figure skating	5
Freestyle skiing	15
Ice hockey	2
Luge	5
Nordic combined	3
Short-track speed skating	9
Skeleton	3
Ski jumping	6
Ski mountaineering	3
Snowboarding	11
Speed skating	14
Total	116

This breakdown also explains the rhythm of the calendar:

• Speed skating, cross-country and Alpine skiing spread their finals across many days.
• Freestyle skiing and snowboarding create dense medal clusters, especially in the second week.
• Ice hockey, figure skating, curling and short-track drive a lot of the primetime arena sessions.

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Time zones and local timings for Milano–Cortina 2026

All official competition times are listed in Central European Time (CET, UTC+1). For fans around the world, the key step is converting CET to local time.

Basic conversions

Here are simple, practical offsets based on key regions:

Time zone	Offset from CET	Simple rule
IST (India)	CET + 4:30	Add 4 hours 30 minutes
ET (Eastern)	CET − 6	Subtract 6 hours
AEDT	CET + 10	Add 10 hours

Example conversions

Take two common session slots: evening session at 20:00 CET and day session at 13:30 CET.

CET time	IST (India)	ET (USA/Canada)	AEDT (Australia)
20:00 CET	00:30 IST (next day)	14:00 ET	06:00 AEDT (next day)
13:30 CET	18:00 IST	07:30 ET	23:30 AEDT

Using these examples, you can comment on big finals like:

“Scheduled for 20:00 CET (00:30 IST / 14:00 ET / 06:00 AEDT).”

Showing both CET and one or two local times makes your article or schedule guide much more user-friendly.

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How to read the official competition calendar

The full Winter Olympics schedule is usually shown as a large table: sports on the left, days along the top, and small icons inside each cell. Once you know how to read it, it becomes much less intimidating.

Here’s a quick guide:

1. Follow each sport row
   Every row corresponds to a discipline (for example, Alpine skiing, snowboarding, short-track).
   • Cells with icons show competition sessions.
   • Cells with numbers show how many medal events are decided that day.
2. Use the legend
   • A small dot or circle typically indicates a competition session (heats, qualifying, or early rounds).
   • A small badge with a number marks the count of medal events for that sport on that date.
   • Short labels such as “OC” and “CC” indicate Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony.
3. Look at the “Daily medal events” row
   At the bottom, you’ll often find a row that adds up all medals awarded each day.
   • Days with higher totals are the busiest medal days, perfect for watch parties.
   • Days with a lower count are better for casual viewing.
4. Check the cumulative total row
   Another row may show cumulative medals (running total). It helps you see how quickly the Games progress from the first podium to all 116 events.

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Planning your viewing around Winter Olympics 2026

Whether you’re creating content or just planning your own viewing, a few simple habits make the schedule much easier to handle.

1. Choose your priority sports

Start by listing your top three or four disciplines:

• Snowboard and freestyle fans: focus on the second week, when many park and pipe finals appear.
• Figure skating followers: watch for evening sessions on major days of the singles, pairs, ice dance and team events.
• Nordic and endurance fans: highlight cross-country, biathlon and Nordic combined medal days.

Once you know your favourites, you can ignore a lot of clutter in the calendar and jump straight to the relevant rows.

2. Mark medal-heavy days

The daily medal-events row tells you which dates carry the biggest punch. These are often the days when:

• Several snow events decide medals in the afternoon.
• Short-track or figure skating caps the day with dramatic finals.
• The medal table shifts rapidly as multiple nations land podiums.

Highlighting these days makes it easier to schedule watch parties or live blogs.

3. Adjust for your time zone in advance

Because everything is anchored in CET:

• Fans in India deal mostly with late-night or early-morning sessions for big evening events in Europe.
• Viewers in North America (ET) often get convenient afternoon start times for evening European sessions.
• Australia and nearby regions may watch major finals in the early morning.

Preparing a small conversion table like the example above lets your readers (and you) keep track of key events without mental maths.

4. Treat ceremonies as special events

Although ceremonies don’t award medals, they matter a lot to fans:

• Opening Ceremony — 6 February 2026, San Siro, Milan
  A perfect moment to introduce teams, showcase culture and set the tone of the Games.
• Closing Ceremony — 22 February 2026, Verona Arena
  A historic amphitheatre hosting the final celebration, athlete parade, and handover to the next Winter Games.

Scheduling posts or watch parties around these ceremonies helps build excitement and gives your audience a start and finish line for the event.

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Quick questions and answers on the schedule

How long do the Winter Olympics 2026 last?
The competition period covers 4–22 February 2026, including early sessions, the Opening Ceremony, all medal days, and the Closing Ceremony.

How many medal events are on the programme?
The current programme lists 116 medal events across the main winter sports, from Alpine skiing to speed skating.

Which days are the biggest for medals?
The central stretch of the Games (roughly 8–17 February) and the final weekend carry the most medal events. These are the best days for non-stop viewing.

What time zone is used in the official timetable?
All event times are listed in CET (UTC+1). You can convert them to IST, ET, AEDT or any other local time using fixed offsets.