Yesterday, November 26, 2025, in a unique twist on tradition, the Olympic flame for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games was lit indoors at Ancient Olympia 🔥. Organizers moved the ceremony inside due to weather warnings, but didn’t skip a beat, sticking to the tradition by using the sun’s rays during Monday’s rehearsal to keep it pure.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry and IOC Honorary President Thomas Bach were among the distinguished guests who cheered as the flame was officially transferred to the Milano Cortina torch. First up as torchbearer was Paris 2024 men’s rowing bronze medalist Petros Gkaidatzis, representing Greece, before two-time Olympic women’s cross-country skiing champion Stefania Belmondo of Italy took the flame for a joint run. She then handed it off to double Olympic men’s luge gold medalist Armin Zoeggeler.
After spending a week touring historic sites in Greece, the flame heads to Athens on December 4, where it will be handed over to the Milano Cortina team. The epic relay then kicks off across Italy, touching 60 cities and 300 towns with 10,001 torchbearers in all.
On January 26, exactly 70 years after the 1956 Winter Games opened in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the flame will blaze into town. Then, in just over two months, it’ll make its grand finale entrance into Milan’s San Siro Stadium on the evening of February 6 for the opening ceremony. Get ready, because the road to Milano Cortina 2026 is officially on! 🇮🇹⛷️
Reference(s):
Flame for 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics lit in Ancient Olympia
cgtn.com
