The 2026 Winter Olympics are just days away, with the Milan Cortina Games set to kick off with two weeks of international competitions.
The games include some fan-favorite events like ice hockey and figure skating, bringing together the best athletes in the world to compete for gold. While the 2026 Winter Olympics don’t officially kick off until the end of the week, fans hoping to watch some action won’t have to wait quite that long.
2026 Winter Olympics Start in Days
The 2026 Winter Olympics officially start on Friday, Feb. 6, with opening ceremonies from Milan. But some of the competitions get an earlier start, with training and preliminary heats for some events starting on Wednesday.
Fans looking to watch the opening ceremony will be able to tune in to NBC and Peacock, with coverage during the day and a tape-delayed encore during primetime. There will be several performances, including Mariah Carey.
The full schedule of events for the 2026 Winter Olympics include:
- Luge: Feb. 4-12
- Alpine skiing: Feb. 4-18
- Curling: Feb. 4-22
- Ski jumping: Feb. 5-16
- Snowboarding: Feb. 5-18
- Ice hockey: Feb. 5-22
- Figure skating: Feb. 6-21
- Freestyle skiing: Feb. 7-21
- Speed skating: Feb. 7-21
- Cross-country skiing: Feb. 7-22
- Biathlon: Feb. 8-21
- Skeleton sledding: Feb. 9-15
- Nordic combined skiing: Feb. 9-19
- Short-track speed skating: Feb. 10-20
- Bobsled: Feb. 12-22
- Ski mountaineering: Feb. 19-21
This year’s Winter Olympics will see the return of full participation NHL players for the ice hockey competition, a change from 2018 when they were not allowed to compete and from 2022, when the pandemic limited participation.
A full day-by-day schedule of the 2026 Winter Olympics including results can be found at the official Milan Cortina Games website.
How to Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics
As The Athletic noted, American viewers must turn to the NBC family of networks to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics, with several channels covering events along with live-streaming options on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
“On the main channel, NBC’s daytime window is scheduled for at least five hours of Olympic focus each day, with Rebecca Lowe as the host,” the report noted. “Later, ‘Primetime in Milan’ has three hours of nightly highlights. Mike Tirico anchors the program once his Super Bowl responsibilities are clear (quite literally, the same night as the game). Snoop Dogg and Stanley Tucci have been announced as celebrity guests.
“That evening show is followed by a second, called ‘Olympic Late Night.’ Maria Taylor takes the host chair after her Super Bowl assignments, as well.”
Viewers will get to see a more equitable field for the Winter Olympics, with the BBC noting that this year’s games will have the most women athletes ever — a long way from the 11 who competed when the Winter Games debuted in 1924.
“According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), about 1,300 female athletes will be at Milan-Cortina,” the report noted. “Of the 116 medal events, 50 will be in women’s competition (the most ever) and 12 will be mixed. The upshot is that women will compete in a Winter Games-record 53.4% of all medal events.”
The report added that 12 of the 16 disciplines are “fully gender-balanced in athlete numbers” — including some new women’s events like luge doubles and ski jumping individual large hill. There are even some mixed events, including a skeleton relay.
When Do 2026 Winter Olympics Start? Full Schedule, How to Watch Milan Cortina Games