2026 Winter Olympics start date, opening ceremony time, and full Milan–Cortina schedule basics

The 2026 Winter Olympics begin in northern Italy this week, with the Milan–Cortina Games officially running from Friday, February 6, 2026, through Sunday, February 22, 2026. The Opening Ceremony is set for Friday, February 6, and a key wrinkle for viewers is that competition starts two days earlier, meaning medals and marquee moments arrive fast once the flame is lit.

For U.S. viewers tracking Eastern Time, most prime-time moments in Italy will land in the afternoon in the U.S., because Milan is six hours ahead of ET.

When do the Olympics start, and when is the Opening Ceremony in 2026?

The headline dates are straightforward:

• Competition begins: Wednesday, February 4, 2026 (early events start before the ceremony)

• Opening Ceremony: Friday, February 6, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. ET

• First medal day: Saturday, February 7, 2026

• Closing Ceremony: Sunday, February 22, 2026

The Opening Ceremony takes place in Milan at San Siro, a stadium-sized setting that underscores how city-based this edition of the Winter Games will feel. The Closing Ceremony is scheduled for Verona, giving the Games a second major ceremonial stage separate from the mountain venues.

Where are the Winter Olympics this year? Milan, Cortina, and the multi-venue map

The official host cities are Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, but the event footprint stretches across multiple clusters in northern Italy. The practical takeaway for fans is that “Milan–Cortina” is shorthand for a wide geography: urban arenas for ice sports and larger ceremonies, plus alpine locations that carry the core winter identity.

Key venue areas include:

• Milan for major indoor events and the Opening Ceremony staging

• Cortina d’Ampezzo for mountain events and a major share of the winter-sport atmosphere

• Livigno for freestyle-focused snow events

• Antholz–Anterselva for biathlon

• Predazzo as part of the ski jumping and Nordic cluster

• Verona for the Closing Ceremony

That layout matters for scheduling because events are not all running off one compact hub. Expect staggered start times and occasional overlap between big finals, especially on weekends.

Winter Olympics schedule: what happens first, and when the biggest events hit

Even though the Opening Ceremony is Friday, February 6, the Olympics schedule effectively starts Wednesday, February 4, with early competition in curling. This is common in modern Games planning: sports with longer round-robin formats begin before the ceremony so the calendar can fit everything in.

Once the show officially opens, the pace ramps up quickly:

• The first weekend, February 7–8, typically carries a heavy medal load across snow sports and early ice finals, making it the first major “stacked” viewing window.

• The middle stretch of the Games is where fans usually see the densest mix of team-play rounds and individual finals, with multiple finals landing each day.

• The final weekend tends to concentrate championship games and late-event showpieces, including the men’s ice hockey final on the last day, February 22.

If you’re planning your viewing around time zones, build your habit around midday and afternoon ET for many finals held in Italy’s evening local time, then expect some events to air later in the U.S. as replays or curated prime-time broadcasts.

Where to watch the Olympics opening ceremony and how to stream the Winter Games

In the United States, the Winter Olympics will be carried by the country’s Olympic rights-holding broadcast network, with live streaming available through its companion streaming service and authenticated options for pay-TV subscribers. Internationally, coverage varies by country, but most markets offer a mix of live television, streaming, and highlight packages.

A practical tip for viewers who only want a single moment: the Opening Ceremony is easiest to treat as a standalone broadcast at 2:00 p.m. ET on February 6, while the rest of the Games is better approached as a daily schedule, since medal events can begin earlier in the day and overlap across sports.

With the calendar now underway, the fastest way to keep up is to focus on three anchor points: the pre-ceremony start on February 4, the Opening Ceremony on February 6 at 2:00 p.m. ET, and the final day on February 22, when multiple closing-day finals converge before the Closing Ceremony wraps the Games.