Too many delays at the Cortina Olympics in Milan: “Sled racing abroad”

The bobsleigh, luge, skeleton and para-bob races at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will not take place in Cortina d’Ampezzo, as originally envisaged in the candidacy’s master plan. This was stated by CONI President Giovanni Malago during his speech from the stage of the 141st session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which takes place in Mumbai, India.

Thus, the president of the Milan Foundation, Cortina, confirmed rumors that the delays that have accumulated in the preparation of venues for the Olympic Games are now irreversible.

Malago announced that bobsleigh, luge, skeleton and parabob tracks will not be built in Cortina d’Ampezzo. “Just two days ago the government informed us that it was assessing the best and most sustainable option, that is, not building the Luge Center (bobsled, ed.) and moving the racing to an existing and operational site, and therefore Milan Cortina 2026 must determine another headquarters outside Italy,” said the CONI president.

Thus, according to the organizers themselves, the most significant project of the next Olympics was abandoned. According to a European tender worth 81 million euros, published last June, the project for the sports complex “Cortina Luge Center” included the reconstruction of the historic Eugenio Monti slope, as well as 7 hectares of the Ronco area, as well as a number of activities related to the new facility: among them also a widespread memorial that, through advanced multimedia technology, will symbolically unite the 1956 Olympic Games with the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Games. A project that remained on paper also because, as the CONI president himself explained to the competition, it did not “bring many results.”

In all likelihood, the organizing committee for the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan Cortina will now have to rent a facility offered by the Austrian city of Innsbruck and arrange for the transfer of athletes to the city, located 400 kilometers north of Milan.

The IOC, which favors the reuse of existing facilities, welcomed the Italian authorities’ refusal, with Coordination Commission President Christine Kloster Aasen calling it a “responsible decision.”