site.btaOver 2,900 Athletes to Compete at 2026 Winter Olympic Games

More than 2,900 athletes will take part in the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, the 25th edition in history following the first Winter Olympics held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The Games will be staged from February 6 to 22 in northern Italy, jointly hosted by Milan and the Alpine resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Athletes will represent a record 94 nationalities, including competitors from Russia and Belarus, who will compete under a neutral flag due to sanctions imposed on the two countries in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022 and the ongoing hostilities.

The programme includes 16 sports and 116 events (54 for men, a record 50 for women, and 12 mixed events).

Ski mountaineering, which combines uphill climbing and downhill skiing, will make its Olympic debut, along with eight new events: men’s and women’s sprint and mixed relay in ski mountaineering, mixed team event in skeleton, women’s doubles in luge, men’s and women’s parallel moguls in freestyle skiing, and women’s large-hill ski jumping.

Players from the National Hockey League will compete in the men’s ice hockey tournament for the first time since the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Bulgaria’s delegation includes 20 athletes across six sports: eight quota places in biathlon (four men and four women), three in cross-country skiing (two men and one woman), three in alpine skiing (two men and one woman), four in snowboarding (three men and one woman), and one each in women’s figure skating and men’s ski jumping.

Athletes from Benin, Guinea-Bissau and the United Arab Emirates are expected to make their Winter Olympics debut, while the United States will field the largest delegation with 232 athletes.