Youth lead the way as Milano Cortina 2026 embodies the new Italian spirit

26 June 2025 – With less than eight months to go until the Milano Cortina 2026, the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) reported to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) in Lausanne, Switzerland, that it has entered the final operational phase, with significant youth mobilisation and progress across key areas such as venue readiness, ticket sales, engagement and partnerships.

IOC President Kirsty Coventry reported on her recent meeting with the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, in Rome: “Two weeks ago we were in Rome to visit Her Excellency, the Prime Minister Meloni, and to get first-hand experience of her unwavering support for the movement and for Milano Cortina 2026. I’d just like to personally thank her and her government for the engagement that they’ve had with our Coordination Commission, as well as the OCOG.”

Engagement and youth

Milano Cortina 2026 President Giovanni Malagò told the IOC EB that nearly 120,000 registrations (with more than half from under 35-year-olds) have been submitted for the 18,000 positions of the volunteer programme Team26. As for the torchbearer selection programme, the number of detailed applications required closed at over 35,000 for the 10,000 slots.

Games-related educational and cultural activities have already engaged more than 7.5 million people, with over 6 million taking part in initiatives of the Cultural Olympiad, and an extra 1.5 million young people involved in the Gen26 Education Programme.

With regard to ticketing, Organising Committee CEO Andrea Varnier confirmed that, as of June 2025, almost half the total of 1.5 million tickets have been sold. In what is a very encouraging sign, more than 30 per cent of ticket buyers are below 34 years of age, and the gender split is almost equal (54 per cent men, 46 per cent women).

Readiness and venues update

The Olympic Village in Milan is nearly complete, with a delivery event scheduled for the end of July, while the temporary village in Cortina already has 80 per cent of its residential units installed. The Cortina Sliding Centre, one of the only two new competition venues being built, had its pre-homologation as scheduled from 25 to 28 March. Sixty athletes from 12 nations, across the three disciplines of bobsleigh, skeleton and luge, were involved in the successful test. Final homologation will take place by October. The other new venue, the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, is on track to be delivered in time for the planned test event in December.

Milano Cortina 2026 is set to be the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games in history, showcasing innovation, community and a new Italian spirit shaped by the energy and engagement of the younger generations.