In January, American Jessie Diggins, the world No. 1 in women’s cross-country skiing, sprinted up a steep Val di Fiemme slope to claim her third Tour de Ski title. She has returned to the nearby Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium for the Olympics, racing on terrain she knows well. Many U.S. athletes have similar familiarity with northern Italy; they compete and train there regularly, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee says it is a region where Team USA often performs strongly.
Organizers altered the Val di Fiemme course to make the event fairer, changing much of the layout and even reversing some sections. Diggins notes that while veterans have history on the hills, everyone is effectively relearning the course this season. Val di Fiemme will also host ski jumping and Nordic combined events.
About two hours north sits the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Arena, a valley long celebrated as a biathlon sanctuary after hosting elite skiing and shooting for more than five decades. U.S. biathletes say that familiarity gives them an edge. Their head coach spent his childhood in the Antholz Valley, and much of the U.S. wax crew grew up racing there. Deedra Irwin, the top U.S. female biathlete, says the team feels almost like locals, with detailed local knowledge and a comfortable setup in the valley. The U.S. has never medaled in Olympic biathlon; athletes hope this stretch of familiar venues could change that.
Roughly 40 miles south, Cortina d’Ampezzo will stage curling and the sliding sports, including bobsled and skeleton. Alpine events will take place on the Olympia delle Tofane, one of the sport’s most iconic runs, first used at the 1956 Winter Games. For many skiers that slope is special; Lindsey Vonn singles out Cortina and Lake Louise as the mountains where she feels most at home. Vonn has won major races at both venues and has come out of retirement for her fifth Olympics, saying she understands what it takes to win there.
A major crash just a week before the Games ruptured a knee ligament, yet Vonn announced she will still compete, planning to ski with a brace over a torn ACL. She has said that as long as a chance remains she will try. Vonn also praises Cortina itself, where locals have embraced her career and even inspired a margherita pizza named in her honor.
The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics open on February 6 at Milan’s century-old San Siro Stadium and will close on February 22 in Verona at an ancient Roman amphitheater dating to A.D. 30, blending modern spectacle with millennia of history.