Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy – In less than one year, athletes will be traveling from across the world to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina. However, there is a possibility that a large group of athletes may have to compete over 4,000 miles away from Milan, Italy.
Here’s the problem…
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During the bidding process, the committee proposed to renovate and restore the Eugenio Monti Olympic track located in Cortina. The sliding center would host bobsleigh, skeleton and luge competitions.
The minimum cost was originally estimated at 14 million euros. In the official bid, the indicated cost could be up to 100 million euros. The original forecast was between 40 and 50 million euros. Eventually, a project of up to 85 million euros was approved.
As time went on and material costs continued to rise, it was announced that the cost could cost them up to 120 million euros.
Due to issues with costs and time restraints, a proposal was made to move the sliding sports venue location to the Igls Olympic Sliding Centre in Innsbruck, Austria, which is only about 100 miles away from Cortina d’Amprezzo, Italy. Keep in mind, that is closer to each other than Milan and Cortina are to each other. Those two Italian cities are about 250 miles apart.
However, the Italian government wanted all the events to stay in Italy. So, it finally agreed to rebuild the Cortina track for a cost of 81 million euros.
Work began less than two years until the opening ceremony. 180 workers are on the construction site from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. every single day to get the site complete by the date set by the International Olympic Committee, which is set to be the end of March 2025.
With less than a month until the deadline, the race against time intensifies.
The process will continue even after the venue is completely built, because the IOC must officially test and certify it before it can be used at the Olympics.
Although completion is expected to be done by the deadline, a back-up option has been chosen if needed. The Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run in Lake Placid, New York is the location athletes would have to go to if the track in Italy is not done in time.
The IOC would have preferred to use the proposed track in Austria, and another proposed venue in Switzerland (St. Moritz), but the Lake Placid option came at no cost.
The track was offered to the IOC without any investment requirements needed.
However, the organizers are still holding onto hope that the venue in Cortina will be completed on time. The official Milano-Cortina 2026 website lists the “Cortina Sliding Centre” as one of the venues in a January 2nd article. According to the website “This venue will host bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge competitions, continuing the long-standing Ampezzo tradition of sliding sports”.