I'm Getting Excited!

last week

We now have less than a month before the 2026 Winter Olympic games take place in Milano Cortina. If you are like me, there is a good chance you have never heard of Milano Cortina before. Well, let me give you a little bit of background compliments of Google search which these days basically means Gemini AI.

Milano Cortina is actually a reference to the two host cities for the winter games. Milan in the northern part of Italy might be a little more familiar to people. Cortina d'Ampezzo on the other hand is a resort town in the Dolomite mountains. This isn't the first time the games have been split between multiple neighboring locations like this.

In fact, although Milan and Cortina are the key cities, there are actually events taking place all over the northern part of Italy including Livigno, Bormio, Anterselva, and Tesero. These other locations are mostly for the skiing completions.

Did you know that there are a total of sixteen events for the winter games. It actually seems like there should be a lot more than that, but as I go through the list, it seems like I was mistaken. I'd really love there to be some kind of ice fishing competition. As boring as it might be, I think it would be fun to watch folks sitting out on the ice trying to catch a big fish.

I'm kind of weird like that though.

It's actually been probably close to a decade that I went ice fishing myself. Honestly, if you saw some of the gear people have these days, it's more like a luxury hang out than it is braving the cold to catch some fish.

But I digress.

Like I said, sixteen total events in the Winter Olympic games, you can see them all here:

Alpine Skiing
Biathlon
Bobsleigh
Cross Country Skiing
Curling
Figure Skating
Freestyle Skiing
Ice Hockey
Luge
Nordic Combined
Short Track Speed Skating
Skeleton
Ski Jumping
Ski Mountaineering
Snowboard
Speed Skating

I think part of the reason it feels like there should be more events is because I think they combined some of them into a single event. Like the Super G and regular slalom in downhill skiing. All of which are encompassed in the "Alpine Skiing" category. I also noticed that Ice Dancing was not included in the list. I am guessing they fit that under the umbrella of Figure Skating, but who really knows.

That actually makes a lot more sense as I think about it and I don't feel so bad now about thinking there were way too few events.

I think one of the ones I am most excited about is the new Ski Mountaineering event. This is the first time that the event has been in the Winter Olympics although it has been gaining in popularity over the years. I can't say as though I have ever seen this event played out, so it is going to be a new experience for me.

I've never been much of a skier myself, but I really appreciate the skill that is involved in excelling at those events and not breaking a bone (or seven).

I'm really looking forward to catching as much of the winter games as possible this year!