The long runway of Milan-Cortina 2026: the choice of venue

Where will world champion Davide Ghiotto and his blade colleagues skate at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February 2026? Where will the 400-metre ring for the five-circle long track be built? Tomorrow, Tuesday 21 March, in all probability, we will finally know. The thirty Baselga di Pinè, site of one of only two dedicated Italian facilities (outdoors) – the other is in Collalbo, in Alto Adige – a location designated right from the candidacy dossier, left the scene due to the very high costs for rebuild the stadium and make the necessary coverage (approximately 85 million euro). The race – beyond the reconversion project of the Spresiano velodrome, in the Treviso area – is now two-way, between Milan and Turin. The first, once the evocative opportunity of the Arena has vanished, because the international federation, too anchored in tradition, does not grant exceptions to the fact that it is necessary to compete indoors, relies on a pavilion at the Rho fair, on the outskirts of the city. In 2007 already home to a cycling track. The second on the Oval Lingotto which already hosted the competitions of the Turin 2006 Games, those of Enrico Fabris’s enterprises.

Jobs

—

Tomorrow, Tuesday 21 March, will be D-day. At 15.30, in the Sala Azzurra of Palazzo Chigi, the control room for the 2026 Winter Olympics will meet, set up on 2 February and which includes all institutional and operational stakeholders. It will provide a decisive indication about the choice, even if the definitive decision, after the necessary and further checks with the IOC and the ISU itself, will be up to the board of directors of the Foundation, which will have to express itself with a majority of two thirds and the unanimity of the territories.

The challenge

—

Milan, in the context of an edition that will in any case take place on a very vast and enlarged terrain, has on its side the “right of first refusal” which belongs to the cities and regions that host the Games: Turin, in the candidacy phase, made a clear step backwards. The Lombard capital, apart from curling planned in Cortina, with the long track to be combined with ice hockey (between PalaItalia and the former PalaSharp), figure skating and short track (at the Assago Forum), would become the venue for all disciplines some ice. With a business card worthy of the great Olympics and the clear advantages of the case: athletes and managers would stay in the same Village under construction, insiders and spectators would gravitate to a concentrated area. Turin, which at the end of last week in turn presented an official proposal dossier to the CIO, the Government and the Foundation, would be far more isolated in relation to the context – although the aim is for an ad hoc high-speed rail service – but it has a better economic sustainability: redeveloping the Oval Lingotto would cost less (about 5 million) than building a system, albeit temporary, with stands for 5-6000 spectators, inside the Rho fair (about 20-25), where there would be heavy structural interventions, for example eliminating the current support pillars of the structure and then guaranteeing the necessary quality of the ice. In either case, who will take charge of it? Will public money be used?

Tight deadlines

—

The times, in all cases, are very tight: also because it will not be possible to ignore the necessary test events, to be scheduled no later than November 2025. That is, in two and a half years. Where will the national team of coach Maurizio Marchetto skate and those arriving from all over the world? The international environment, regarding this deferred decision, is beginning to murmur and turn upside down. There isn’t a day to lose.