FINAL DETAILS ABOUT THE MILAN-CORTINA 2026 WINTER OLYMPICS

So you thought the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics will start on Friday.  Nope, today....Wednesday.

• Yes, today, you can see preliminaries for Curling, Luge, Snowboarding and Alpine skiing.

• 
  Women's Ice Hockey preliminary rounds begin on Thursday, February 5:  U.S. versus Czechia at 10:40AM ET.  The American team goes on to play Finland on Friday, February 7 at 10:40AM ET, Switzerland at 2:40PM ET on Sunday and Canada on Monday at 2:10PM ET.  Finals in Milan on February 19.  They are favored to beat Canada for the gold medal.
• 
  The Opening Ceremony is on Friday, February 6, 2PM ET or 9AM Hawaii time.
• Then on Saturday, February 7, the first medal event, Men's Downhill Alpine Skiing. 

• 
  Closing ceremony on Sunday, February 22, at the Verona Arena.  At 2PM ET on Peacock, with the Prime broadcast on NBC at 8PM ET.
• Oh, living at 15 Craigside in Honolulu, I just learned that I can get Peacock free.  Standard cost is $8/month.  Got to get on this later today.

There will be 232 American participants.  From The New York Times.

In Alpine skiing, Mikaela Shiffrin, the sport’s most decorated athlete, had a nightmare Olympics in 2022 — three crashes, no medals. But she has excelled since then, and so has the rest of the U.S. squad, which enters these Games as the sport’s dominant team. 

In speedskating, the headliner is Jordan Stolz, who is 21 and grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. He’s favored to win gold in all of his four events.

And in figure skating, the U.S. hasn’t won a women’s individual medal in 20 years. Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu have a real shot at changing that. On the men’s side, Ilia Malinin, nicknamed the “Quad God” for his quadruple jumps, is a favorite to win gold. And you have to cheer for Maxim Naumov. This is his first Olympics, and it comes just over a year after his parents — both former Olympians, and also his coaches — were killed in the horrific midair plane collision over Washington.

Watch also for Lindsey Vonn, 41, who is trying to complete a comeback after five years of retirement, a partial knee replacement and a crash on Friday, rupturing her ACL.  But she said she will still compete.

There will be 3500 athletes from 93 countries competing for 195 medals in 16 disciplines. 

• 
  Then again, Google AI says there will only be 2900.  The games have begun, and there is still uncertainty.  There were 2900 in the 2022 Winter Games.
• Russia and Belarus are banned.
• The USA is not a particularly cold country.  Yet, with 236 (yes, up from 232), we will have the most athletes.
• Canada will be #2 with 206, and host nation Italy with 193.
• 17 countries will have only one.
• Few know that the first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France in 1924 with 258 athletes from 16 nations competing in 16 events across 9 disciplines.  Norway won the most medals.

• 
  Norway is heavily favored to win the most medals again  this year.  They also have a 69% chance of winning the most gold medals, with the USA at 18% and Germany 12%.

You will meet Tina and Milo.

Of course, you've heard that the NBC co-host of these games, Savannah Guthrie, will remain home, following the dissapearance of her mother, Nancy Guthrie.  68-year old and former professional tennis player, Mary Carillo, will now be alongside Terry Gannon for the coverage.

You can sign up to the Games Briefing for a full recap in your inbox from The Athletic.

Of course, also on NBC, Super Bowl LIX this coming Sunday.

But FOX Sports will broadcast the 2026 FIFA World Cup, airing all 104 matches from FOX and FS1 from June 11 to July 19.  Co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the USA.  The World Cup Final game will be on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

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