Opening Ceremonies

The torch is sliding toward Northern Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Opening ceremonies for the Milan Cortina Games are tonight—featuring musical performances from Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli—but some sports (curling and women’s hockey) have already hit the ice.

Over the next two weeks, 2,000+ athletes from 90+ nations will go for gold in 16 sports, including eight new events and one new sport: ski mountaineering (AKA skimo, which involves skiing uphill, no lifts allowed). 

Team USA hopes a strong women’s figure-skating trio, “Quad God” Ilia Malinin (see his on-ice spinssss), and NHL players’ Olympic return will boost its medal count after 2022’s fifth overall finish. Five-time Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn—back on the slopes after a six-year hiatus—says she’s “confident” she’ll compete despite rupturing her ACL last week.

See the full frozen schedule here. 

ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
Sports can teach us a lot about everyday life—the value of teamwork, perseverance, and even loyalty as a fan. Athletes’ commitment to their sport encourages us to press towards the “imperishable crown” Christians will receive one day, and fans’ joy for their team can give us a foretaste of the greatest celebration in history. 

“Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.” 
1 Corinthians 9:25 (CSB) (read full passage)