Milano Cortina 2026 Opens With Twin Flames, Mariah Carey’s Italian Moment, and a Packed First-Weekend Schedule

The 2026 Winter Olympics are officially underway in Italy after a sprawling Opening Ceremony centered at Milan’s San Siro stadium and echoed across multiple alpine sites, culminating in a first-of-its-kind “twin flame” lighting in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. The Games, running through February 22, 2026, are now shifting quickly from spectacle to a dense stretch of medal events as fans juggle time zones, TV windows, and streaming options.

A Two-City Kickoff Sets the Tone for These Games

Milano Cortina is built around distance: ice events anchored in and around Milan, and snow events spread through the Dolomites and other mountain venues. Organizers leaned into that geography on opening night, staging segments in more than one location and then sealing the concept with dual cauldrons lit in both host hubs.

Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, formally declared the Games open as the International Olympic Committee’s president, Kirsty Coventry, addressed athletes in a ceremony that repeatedly emphasized unity and “harmony” as a theme. The production was designed to look like a single show even while it unfolded across separate places—an idea that mirrors the logistical challenge athletes and fans will face throughout the fortnight.

Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli Deliver the Night’s Musical Centerpieces

Two global names carried much of the ceremony’s musical weight.

Mariah Carey’s appearance became the most talked-about moment, in part because she incorporated Italian into her performance—an unexpected choice that played directly to the host-country setting and instantly fueled social-media debates about everything from her heritage to whether she was using a backing track. As with many stadium-scale live TV performances, the broadcast mix and production choices can make vocals sound unusually “polished,” and there has been no verified, official statement confirming lip-syncing.

Andrea Bocelli’s segment was framed as a classic Italian signature: he performed “Nessun Dorma,” a selection that reliably lands in Olympic ceremony playbooks because it reads as both cultural heritage and athletic anthem without needing translation.

Where to Watch the Winter Olympics in the U.S.

For viewers asking “what channel is the Olympics on,” the answer is: more than one.

NBC remains the primary home for the biggest live windows and nightly highlights, while a rotating slate of cable channels carries additional live blocks. Streaming is the most complete way to follow the Games end-to-end, because it offers more simultaneous events than any single TV channel can fit.

Typical viewing options include:

• Broadcast coverage on NBC (including prime-time programming)

• Live and replay streaming on Peacock

• Additional event coverage across NBCUniversal cable networks, often including USA Network and others depending on the day’s lineup

• Authenticated streaming through the NBC Sports ecosystem for viewers with a pay-TV login

Opening Ceremony Timing, Reruns, and the Italy Time Difference

The Opening Ceremony aired live Friday, February 6, with a mid-afternoon U.S. Eastern Time start, followed by a prime-time encore later that night. For fans who missed it live, the easiest path is the replay on streaming, which also allows skipping directly to segments like the Parade of Nations, the cauldron lighting, and the musical performances.

The time difference is the real story for the next two weeks. Many finals will land in U.S. mornings or early afternoons, while prime-time U.S. broadcasts will often function as curated highlight shows rather than a single continuous live feed.

What’s on the Schedule Now: A Crowded First Weekend

With competition already in motion, the immediate focus is on events that traditionally define early Olympic momentum: figure skating, alpine skiing, snowboarding, sliding sports, and hockey. The schedule is intentionally stacked to create daily peaks—medal moments in the afternoon local time that translate into watchable windows overseas.

Two practical ways fans are tracking “today’s schedule”:

• A sport-first approach: pick two or three sports and follow their full sessions rather than channel-surfing

• A medal-first approach: prioritize finals and accept that qualifiers and heats may be best consumed via replays

Across the Games as a whole, athletes from 92 national Olympic committees are competing for 116 medal events, a scale that makes personalization—alerts, replays, and “follow an athlete” features—more useful than ever.

What to Watch Next: Storylines Beyond the Stadium Show

The opening night’s dual-cauldron symbolism won’t matter much if transportation and timing don’t work smoothly once medals pile up. The underlying questions for the next week are practical and competitive:

• Can the multi-venue setup keep athletes’ travel demands reasonable and consistent?

• Will warm-weather concerns and snow management become part of daily competition conversations?

• Which nations seize early momentum in sliding, skiing, and skating before the marquee second-week finals arrive?

For fans, the main takeaway is simple: these are not “one city” Olympics. Milano Cortina is built to move—between Milan and the mountains, between live TV and streaming, and between time zones. The sooner viewers build a watching routine around their favorite sports and medal sessions, the easier it will be to keep up as the calendar accelerates into the first major weekend of finals.