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As the Olympic torch reached Milan on Thursday, anticipation rippled through the city in waves, both jubilant and uneasy. Pride at hosting the Winter Olympics sits alongside quieter anxieties about rising costs, tightened security and geopolitical tension.
Milan is no stranger to spectacle. Fashion Week routinely transforms the city into a runway for the world. The Salone del Mobile design fair floods hotels each spring. Hosting the Games is meant to be a natural extension of that international identity – proof the city can blend culture, commerce and sport on the grandest stage.
But the Olympics carry a different type of emotional weight. They promise a sense that the world is paying attention for reasons larger than points or scorelines. Everyone expects something deeper than an impeccably choreographed global event. They want meaning. That expectation – part hope, part burden – rests on the opening ceremony.
“It’s a bit early; the Olympic spirit among us will grow once things start in earnest,” said the Italian pair skater Rebecca Ghilardi on the muted atmosphere in Milan ahead of the showpiece even. Her ice partner, Filippo Ambrosini, said they could not wait for the “warm Italian public”.
Friday night’s ceremony will serve as the final global showcase for the storied San Siro, the 99-year-old cathedral of Italian football. Home to Inter and Milan, the stadium is scheduled to be demolished and replaced in time for Italy’s co-hosting of the 2032 European Championship. Generations of supporters have passed through its gates and countless careers have been defined on its pitch. To stage an Olympic opening here is to place Milan’s future in direct conversation with its past.
Performers include Mariah Carey, Laura Pausini, Lang Lang, Ghali and Andrea Bocelli, who said: “I don’t think what matters most is the emotion I can leave behind, but rather the emotion that the Olympic Games and sport itself can create. Sport in itself embodies extremely important values, values that I believe should take root in the hearts of everyone, young and old alike.”
Seats at San Siro begin in the hundreds of euros and climb beyond €2,000, placing it out of reach for locals. Organisers emphasised that more affordable tickets exist across the broader Olympic programme, particularly for early-round competitions and events outside the city centre, but the reality is they are difficult to come by. Across Milan, giant public screens have appeared in plazas ready to host those without tickets. Fan zones promise music, food and late-night celebrations designed to pull the Games beyond ticketed venues.
Security, inevitably, is tight. Police patrols are more visible. Transit hubs operate under heightened monitoring. Concrete barriers line certain approach roads to major sites.
The US vice-president, JD Vance, and secretary of state, Marco Rubio, are expected to attend the opening ceremony, amid concerns that spectators could jeer them – and the American team – in response to policies associated with Donald Trump’s administration. Asked whether she feared boos directed at Team USA, the IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, said diplomatically: “I hope that the opening ceremony is seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful of each other.”
If the city feels suspended between excitement and hesitation, history offers reassurance. Few Olympics begin without tension. Cost overruns, construction delays and public scepticism have preceded many of the most beloved Games. What lingers in memory is rarely the anxiety beforehand, but the images that follow: a race decided by inches, a medal won against expectation, a moment of shared silence or joy that briefly shrinks the world.
Opening ceremonies often promise more than the following weeks can sustain. Yet they also possess a rare power: to reset perception in a single evening. Movement and flame can soften criticism, at least temporarily. By Friday night, when the cauldron burns against the winter sky, Milan may feel different even to itself. The inconveniences will not vanish. The questions will remain. But the Games will no longer be abstract. They will be officially under way.
The women’s ice hockey match between the defending Olympic champions, Canada, and Finland was postponed on Thursday after a bout of illness swept through the Finnish camp, with 13 players either quarantined or sick with what medical officials identified as norovirus. The Group A opener will be played on 12 February. The other matches went ahead with the US storming to a 5-1 defeat of the Czech Republic, while Sweden and Italy ran riot in 4-1 wins against Germany and France.
Great Britain repelled a tough Estonia challenge to maintain their winning start in the mixed doubles curling. Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds held a narrow 6-5 lead after the sixth end, before taking a four on the next to establish a 10-5 advantage with one end to spare. The duo returned for their third match in the round-robin phase to beat the Czech Republic 8-7.
Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant’s big five-point first end made all the difference in Canada’s 7-2 win against the hosts and defending gold medallists, Italy. The loss ended Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner’s 12-game winning streak in Olympic competition dating back to their unbeaten run in Beijing 2022.
Picture of the day
Further reading from the Guardian
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Heated rivalries and curling couples: 10 things to look out for
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Welcome to new cold war as world descends on Italy amid global political chaos
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Coventry backing Russia’s return shows sport’s soft power is in rotten hands
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‘Penis injection’ claims in ski jumping investigated by Wada
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Pipe leaks and puck joy: winter wasteland comes alive for ice hockey opener
Full schedule | Results | Medal table
What to look out for today
Times are all in local time in Milan and Cortina. For Sydney it is +10 hours, for London it is -1 hour, for New York it is -6 hours and San Francisco it is -9 hours.
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Curling – 10.05am and 2.35pm: mixed doubles continue with the US taking on Canada in the morning session.
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Figure skating – 9.55am, 11.35am and 1.35pm: three team event sessions, first up the ice dance rhythm dance followed by pairs’ short program and women’s short program.
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Ice Hockey – 12.10pm and 2.40pm: two more matches from the women’s preliminary round.
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Opening ceremony – 8pm: the thing I spent 600+ words previewing above. For the first time ever, there will be two Olympic cauldrons: one at the Arco della Pace in Milan and the other in Piazza Dibona, the charming main square in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The last word
The investigation found no evidence that this person engaged in this doping so there is no legal basis to exclude her. Of course, if you are asking me personally about my feelings, I don’t feel comfortable with her presence here in the Olympic Games – The head of Wada, Witold Banka, on the presence of the Kamila Valieva’s former coach, Eteri Tutberidze at the Games. Tutberidze is coaching the Russian skater Adeliia Petrosian, who will compete under a neutral flag, at Milano Cortina 2026.
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