The first test drives are to take place on the hotly discussed artificial ice rink for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo today (Tuesday, March 25th). This was announced by the Simico Society responsible for the infrastructure of the games.
Accordingly, dozens of bob, tobogganing and skeletonathletes will complete a number of test runs on the 1749-meter-long and 16 curves in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The test procedure before the approval, which the world associations are required, runs until Saturday (March 29). It should be determined whether “all security measures and sporting parameters have been implemented,” said Simico.
120 million euros cost and environmental consequences
Andrea Varnier, Managing Director of the Winter Games Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo 2026, had already indicated a decrease this week at the IOC General Assembly. The 120 million euro project had taken care of the short construction period up to the games (February 6th to 22nd, 2026) and the environmental impacts for public mission and led to a twist between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the organizers.
Lake Placid defined as a replacement
The Italian government had encouraged the organizers to build a new train at short notice instead of switching to an existing facility abroad. Most recently, the ice channel in Lake Placid/USA was set as a replacement. This alternative scenario will most likely not to occur.