#2026-winter-olympics

#2026-winter-olympics

There are other countries that treat us loyally, positively, maybe even kindly. We need to work with them, not wait for someone to hand us something on a silver platter. Sport is diplomacy, just a different form. Let out officials practice this diplomacy instead of drinking coffee in their offices and telling us how hard life is for them because they're not allowed to compete in the Olympics.

In this context, Italy has the advantage of a portion of the Alps, a strip of about 1,200 km along the borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia. The Italian Alpine region hosts most of the facilities that have been prepared over the past five years for the Winter Olympics, which will take place from February 6 to 22, 2026, followed by the Paralympic Games from March 6 to 15.

USA vs. Canada isn't only hockey's greatest rivalry, but one of the most competitive and nastiest in all of sports. It's a rivalry that permeates down into the world junior level and bubbles up to the NHL like lava. Please recall the 4 Nations Face-Off last February, where the first meeting between the nations started with three fights in nine seconds and the second meeting ended with a dramatic overtime win for Canada to claim the championship.

2026 will be a massive year in sports, and the race is on for advertisers to reach sports viewers.

Speaking in February 2024, Pastrnak shared his frustration over not being able to participate in the 4 Nations Face-Off. "It's a huge disappointment," Pastrnak said at the time. "I don't know much I can say. Definitely not happy about it. I understand that it's a quick turnaround. It's next year. They probably didn't have much time to make it a bigger tournament. But Czech isn't there. So it's always a lot of players left out, so I'm not gonna watch the tournament, to be honest. So just happy that the Olympics got accepted. Yeah, [it] definitely stings a little bit."

Milan's Olympic Village, designed by SOM, is set to host over 1,300 athletes and will later transform into Italy's largest publicly supported student housing complex.