2026 Winter Olympics

Trip Summary

Travelers: Justin and Jordan

Length: 16 Days - Feb 8 2026 to Feb 23 2026

Route

• Munich 🇩🇪 - Old Town Munich

• Liechtenstein 🇱🇮 - Vaduz, Castles

• Davos🇨🇭 - Eisminigolf

• Celerina🇨🇭 - Sledging

  • Livigno 🇮🇹 - Snowboarding

• Cortina d'Ampezzo 🇮🇹 - Dolomites, Curling, Bobsleigh, Skeleton

  • Predazzo 🇮🇹 - Ski Jumping

• Milano 🇮🇹 - Duomo, Ice hockey

Olympic Events: 13

• 🏂 Snowboarding: Women's Halfpipe Final

• 🏂 Snowboarding: Women's Snowboard Cross Final

• 🥌 Curling: Men's Pool Play

• 🛷 Skeleton: Women's Final

• ⛷️ Ski Jumping: Women's Large Hill Final

• 🛷 Bobsleigh: Men's Two-Man Bob Heats 1&2

• 🥌 Curling: Men's Pool Play

• 🏒 Ice Hockey: Men's Prelims: Sweden 🇸🇪 vs 🇱🇻 Latvia

• 🏒 Ice Hockey: Men's Quarterfinals: Canada 🇨🇦 vs 🇨🇿 Czechia

• 🏒 Ice Hockey: Men's Quarterfinals: USA 🇺🇸 vs 🇸🇪 Sweden

• 🏒 Ice Hockey: Women's Gold Medal: USA 🇺🇸 vs 🇨🇦 Canada

• 🏒 Ice Hockey: Men's Semifinals: USA 🇺🇸 vs 🇸🇰 Slovakia

• 🏒 Ice Hockey: Men's Gold Medal: USA 🇺🇸 vs 🇨🇦 Canada

Background and Planning

From the heartbreak of Crosby's Golden Goal in Vancouver in 2010 to waking up at 6:00 am to watch T.J. Oshie dominate a shootout in Sochi in 2014, we have long been fans of the Olympic Winter Games and Olympic Ice Hockey, and dreamed of attending them in person.  When it was announced that NHL players would be returning to the games in Milano-Cortina, we thought it would be awesome to attend.  However, we had no idea where to begin in terms of acquiring tickets, finding places to stay, or the cost associated with attending the Olympics.

On a whim, Justin signed up for the ticket lottery in late 2024, not knowing if getting tickets was even feasible.  Fast-forward to Super Bowl Sunday in February 2025.  Out of the blue, Justin got an email saying "Your timeslot to purchase tickets is Tomorrow at 10:00 am CET."  We briefly discussed it during the Super Bowl and set alarms to see what was available and determine if the trip was possible.

We FaceTimed half-asleep at 3:50am and logged to see a mix of random tickets available for purchase.  There wasn't a lot to choose from, but it was enough to get started, and the website promised later drops of tickets and a resale marketplace to be launched in December.  We pulled the trigger and purchased tickets to two Snowboarding events and hospitality tickets to the Women's Gold Medal Hockey game.  These tickets gave us not only a reason to look into flights and hotels, but a skeleton (no pun intended) of a plan for where we would travel between the locations hosting different events.

The 2026 Winter Games were unique in that they were the most spread-out Olympics in history.  In past games in Paris, Sochi, London, and Vancouver, the majority of the events were hosted within a short drive or train ride from the city center, making it easy to stay in one hotel and see lots of different events.  However, in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of the games, keep costs down for building new venues, and avoid abandoned venues after the Olympics conclude, the 2026 organizers decided to spread the games out across Northern Italy and try to use/retrofit existing infrastructure as much as possible.  The only new infrastructure built totally from scratch was the Milano Ice Hockey Arena and Milano Athlete Village, which both have concrete plans for re-use after the games are over, as the city's main concert venue and student housing, respectively.

After a few more months of random ticket drops and early-morning calls, we had a solid schedule of tickets and knew where we would need to be on what dates, allowing us to book flights, accommodations, and a rental car.  We filled in the gaps with the remaining tickets during later drops and with the ticket marketplace.

The first events that we got tickets to were in Livigno, which was not near any major airports, and was not easily connected by train to Milano.  Thus, we elected to fly into a nearby major city and rent a car to drive to Celerina and beyond.  We ultimately decided to fly into Munich and spend two days exploring Germany before heading towards Italy for Olympic events.

We left on Super Bowl Sunday and flew overnight 9 hours from Detroit to Frankfurt, and then 1 hour to Munich after a short layover.  

Old Town Munich

Munich (München in German) is the capital of Bavaria and the gem of southern Germany.  Founded in 1158, it has almost 1000 years worth of old-world charm, architecture, and culture.  There is a great mix of historic architecture and modern touches like trains and soccer pitches.

We arrived in Munich around 10:00 a.m. and took the train to the Isartor neighborhood where our hotel was.  We were able to check into our hotel early and get a quick nap in to shake off the jet-lag before exploring the city.

We had great weather for February (around 50°F both days) and spent most of our time walking around the city, trying the local food and drinks, and .  Here are some sights from the city:

Marienplatz

Marienplatz is the central square in the heart of Munich.  It is home to plenty of restaurants, shops, museums, and souvenir shops.  Overlooking the square is the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall), a stunning gothic building finished in the 1890s that serves as the town hall.

The Rathaus-Glockenspiel is a mechanical clock on the face of the Town Hall that shows two stories of Munich’s history from the 16th century.  The top half shows the 1568 marriage of Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine, and a celebratory horseback joust between two knights representing the different families.  The bottom half depicts the "Coopers' Dance," where coopers danced through the streets after the end of a Plague in 1517 to encourage locals to leave their homes again.  The clock goes off twice daily at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.

We walked through the public courtyard of the and also booked tickets to go to the top of the tower, which provides great panoramic views of Munich.

Munich is also famous for its traditional Bavarian cuisine, which includes pork, sausages, dumplings, and pretzels.  We did our best to try all the local favorites.

Our first night in Munich, the USA Women's Hockey team was playing a pool play game vs Switzerland.  We found an Irish Pub to watch the game at, and made friends with some Finnish gentlemen who loved talking about hockey and their dislike of their Men's Olympic head coach.

All-in-all, Munich was a cool city.  Unfortunately we visited on weekdays and didn't get to experience Oktoberfest in February.  We had also intended to take a day trip to visit either Dachau or the Neuschwanstein Castle nearby, but jet-lag had other plans for us.

We would definitely go back again in the future, either for Oktoberfest, to see some sights we missed, or for a football match at the nearby Allianz Arena.  2 to 3 days is probably the right amount of time for a stop in Munich.

Tschau, Deutschland!

Driving the Autobahn

After two days in Munich, we picked up our rental car from the city center and set off towards Switzerland, where we'd be staying in Celerina/St.Moritz to see Snowboarding events in neighboring Livigino, Italy.  We intentionally took the less-direct route there so we could make a few stops on the way in Liechtenstein and Davos.

Our 2-hour drive on the German Autobahn had a few Unrestricted stretches, one of the few places on Earth with no legal speed limit.  The unrestricted areas are officially indicated by Zeichen 282 (Sign 282), a white circle with 5 diagonal black lines, indicating that the previous speed restriction has ended.  Naturally, Jordan had to test out our rental BMW X3 on these stretches, although traffic and a slight drizzle prevented him from fully testing how far the needle would go.

Just before leaving Germany, we stopped in Lindau for snacks and drinks, and to purchase Vignette toll stickers for driving through Switzerland and Austria.  Thankfully our rental car salesperson educated us about this, because despite a year of reserach, we had no idea they were required and you could face $500+ fines for driving without them.

Liechtenstein

Nestled between Germany, Austria, and Switzerland is the world's sixth-smallest country, the Principality of Liechtenstein.  The small nation situated in the Alps has a population of about 40,000 living on only 62 square miles in area, or about twice the size of Manhattan.  It has no army, no airports, and no currency of its own.  But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in natural beauty, historic castles, and a wealthy economy.

While we had no specific reason for stopping in Liechtenstein, we figured that it was on the way and we might never have a reason to go there separately, so why not stop and check another country off the list?

We hiked up the side of the mountain behind Vaduz to near the Vaduz Castle, to get great panoramic views of pretty much the whole country.  We also took a walk down the nature trails along the Rhine, which separated Liechtenstein from Switzerland.

Davos

After spending a few hours in Liechtenstein, we got back in the car and headed south to Davos, Switzerland.  Davos is a picturesque winter sports town nestled in the Alps.  Despite a permanent population of only about 11,000 people, it hosts multiple major events annually including the World Economic Forum and the Spengler Cup ice hockey tournament.

In Davos, we played 18 holes of Eisminigolf, basically putt-putt mini golf but with hockey sticks on ice.  There were lots of unique holes related to the town, popular activities, or sponsor companies.  Jordan built an early lead in the first few holes that Justin was never able to recover from.

After grabbing dinner in Davos, we hit the road to head to our hotel in Celerina.  There were two routes from Davos to Celerina: either loading our car on a train and taking a shortcut through a train tunnel to the east, or driving over the mountain pass to the west.  Both would be about 90 minutes, and we decided since the pass was open and the weather was clear, we would just drive the mountain pass instead of figuring out the time schedule and fees for the train.

That may have been the wrong answer, especially in the pitch black darkness after sunset.  We were white-knuckle driving up and down switchbacks for about an hour, abruptly braking at the sharp turns and trying not to look off into the valleys where we could see the little lights of homes and cars thousands of feet below.  The intermittent guard rail provided only slight relief, and large buses and other cars trying to overtake provided other obstacles on the often one-lane roads.

After our smart watches gave multiple Heart Rate alerts, we eventually made it across the pass to the highway, and into our hotel in Celerina around 9:00 pm.

Celerina and neighboring St. Moritz, Switzerland, are both winter sports havens and have popular ski resorts.  St. Moritz also hosted the 1948 Winter Olympics, back when there were only 9 sports represented by 28 nations.

We decided to stay in Switzerland because it was much cheaper than the few accommodations available in Livigno, and there were Park and Ride services available in nearby Zernez to take a shuttle bus to Livigno for the events we had tickets to.  This also gave us the opportunity to experience another country and try out sledging.

Sledging in the Swiss Alps

For those of us who can't Ski or Snowboard very well, Switzerland offered another way to enjoy the mountains: Sledging!  Sledging is a popular Swiss pastime where you race down snowy trails (Schlittelbahns) on a wooden sled/toboggan.  Unlike sledding down your local neighborhood hill, these trails descend down mountains, resulting in fast speeds and beautiful sights of the mountains and Alpine towns.

Thursday morning we took the RhB Train from right by our hotel in Celerina to Preda, where we rented our sleds and protective gear from MarkSport.  The weather to start the morning was perfect: partly sunny and about 35°F. 

The Bergün area has two sledge runs/trails:

• Preda-Bergün: a calmer 6 km beginner run, mostly down a road that was closed for the season

• Darlux-Bergün: a steeper and faster 4.5 km run with tighter bends, reached by chair lift

Given our inexperience with sledging, we started with the beginner Preda-Bergün run.  The views were breathtaking, although the speeds and difficulty varied from moderately fast to flat stretches that required standing up and pulling the sled behind you.  Regardless, it was valuable to learn how to control the sled.

The 6 km beginner run ends in the town of Bergün, where there is a chair lift to take you up to the start of the more advanced Darlux run.

We did the Darlux run twice before taking the train back down up to Preda and finishing up the day with one more run down the beginner trail.  As we got off the train in Preda, snow started falling, making the last run magical, sledging between the snowflakes.  At one point in Preda run, there is a radar speed sign (probably intended for cars) that captured our speeds at 40 kmh (25 mph)!

After doing four runs, we had to return our sleds in the town of Bergün and catch the train back to our hotel in Celerina.  After returning our gear, the next train was not due for 30 minutes, so we had plenty of time to stop at the Ice Bar for an Après-Sledge hot boozy punch.

Eventually the train arrived, and we hopped into a Panorama Train Car for take a scenic ride on the Albula Railway Line back to Celerina.  Albula is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with spiraling tunnels, high viaducts, and fantastic views of the Alps.

Livigno & Livigno Snow Park

We arrived back in Celerina with enough time to shower and get ready for our first Olympic event: snowboarding.  The snowboarding events were all in a small ski town named Livigno just inside the Italian border.

Because of the small size of the towns hosting lots of the Olympic events, traffic was tightly controlled to prevent congestion and ensure the roads remain clear.  On the only route between this region of Switzerland and Livigno, there is a small one-lane tunnel through the mountains and the border crossing.  No vehicles were permitted through the tunnel without proof of residency or a pre-approved pass for approved reasons like a booked hotel stay in Livigno.  Thus, we had to park in the nearby city of Zernez and take a 45-minute bus shuttle to Livigno.

Buses came about every 15 minutes and it was an easy process to navigate, although it was quite expensive for the parking and bus shuttle.

As our bus pulled into the main transit center, the Livigno Snow Park hosting the snowboarding events shined like a diamond in the dark, visible from miles away.  The small ski town had a handful of restaurants, shops, and hotels, and the party was very lively when we arrived in the evening.

We walked the short distance over to the security checkpoint and entered for our first Olympic event: Women's Snowboard Halfpipe Finals.

Snowboard Halfpipe

To get to the Halfpipe, we had to hike up a loosely-packed slushy snow hill with all the other spectators.  When we got to the top of the hill, our general admission tickets allowed us to stand anywhere at the bottom of the halfpipe.  

Photos don't do it justice just how steep the halfpipe is, and how high the sides of the pipe are.  "Olympic standards require a 600-foot-long run at an 18-degree pitch and U-shaped walls that are 22 feet high and 64 feet apart from lip to lip."

After athletes and staff made it to the bottom, they hopped onto a Snowmobile and were driven back to the top. 

The Women's Snowboard Halfpipe Final allowed each of the 12 finalists to have 3 runs where they drop into the halfpipe and perform tricks while alternating up and down the sides of the pipe.  Runs are scored by a panel of judges on 5 criteria: Height, Difficulty of tricks, Variety of tricks, Execution of tricks, and Progression of new tricks.  After 3 runs, the athlete with the highest single score from one of her runs wins the Gold Medal, second-highest gets Silver, and third-highest gets Bronze.  Athletes went in the same order for all 3 runs based on their qualifying scores before the finals.

American Chloe Kim 🇺🇸 was one of the favorites in the event, the twice-defending champion having won Gold in both 2018 and 2022.  Based on her performance in qualification, she went last on each of the runs.

Snow was falling heavily as the athletes started dropping into the halfpipe one by one.  Lots of the tricks were very impressive and well beyond our civilian athletic abilities.  Thankfully there were in-stadium broadcasters, one in English and one in Italian, describing what tricks the athletes attempted and how well they executed them.

However, we were surprised by how many athletes fell or crashed during their runs.  Specifically many athletes extended too far over the edges of the halfpipe when soaring above them, often hitting their snowboard or parts of their bodies on the top of the sides, and then falling 22 feet into the bottom of the bowl.  During her first run, 17-year-old Choi Ga-on from South Korea 🇰🇷 hit the top of the halfpipe and fell into the bowl, seriously injuring her leg.  She did not get up after several minutes and the medical staff, on skis with a rescue toboggan behind them, had to ski down to assist her.  She eventually stood up and walked off under her own power, to the loud applause of the crowd.  However, we thought she might have shattered something and did not expect her to be back for the remainder of the competition.

Chloe Kim finished up Run 1 with a spectacular performance that scored 88.00 and placed her atop the leaderboard with the score to beat.

Run 2 featured a few more completed runs, but no changes to the top of the leaderboard.  Chloe Kim fell when trying to improve her impressive first run, so she received a score of DNI (Did Not Improve).

Surprisingly to us and most of the crowd, Choi Ga-on returned to the top of the halfpipe and dropped in for her second run, apparently healthy enough to continue after her hard fall.  She fell again (this time less seriously) and received a DNI score.

Entering Run 3, Chloe Kim was still in the lead, in position for the Gold if nobody else topped her score.  She also had the honor of going last, so in case any other athletes scored higher than her, she would have the chance at one more run to go crazy and try to best them.

Let me preface the following points by saying we are not experts or even big Snowboarding fans, but just naive fans watching for entertainment from the bottom of the hill.  Previously-injured Choi Ga-on went 7th, near the bottom of the standings with her two previous runs ending in injury and falls.  She had a strong run and landed all of her tricks, which seemed moderately complex to the untrained eye.  We (and much of the crowd) were quite surprised, though, when the judges scored her run a 90.25 and Ga-on jumped into first place with just a few athletes remaining.  Perhaps her run was exceptional, perhaps the judges inflated it a bit due to the comeback story and ensuing movie that could be written about it... we may never know.

We were also quite surprised when the second-to-last athlete, Sara Shimizu from Japan 🇯🇵, seemed to perform the most complex and skilled tricks of the evening on her Third Run, but she was only given a score of 84.00, good for 4th place and first off the podium.

Entering her last run and the last to go, Chloe Kim sat in second place, with an opportunity for one more run to take Gold for her third consecutive Olympics.  Unfortunately, she fell on her run, and settled for Silver, with the miraculous comeback story for Ga-on complete.

After the medals (and plushies of the mascot Tina) were presented out and the South Korean anthem played, our first Olympic event was over and we headed back to the bus terminal to head back to Switzerland.  After about a 50 minute bus ride, a 15 minute walk to our car, and then another 30 minute drive back to our hotel in Celerina, we questioned our life choices of whether we should have stayed in Zernez (where the bus shuttle picks up from the town center) or just spent the big bucks and stayed in Livigno to avoid all the travel.  Hindsight is 20/20...

Snowboard Cross

In the morning, we got up early to go do it all again for the Women's Snowboard Cross final.  Snowboard Cross is one of the newer Winter Olympics sports, having been added in 2006.  It features 4 to 6 snowboarders racing each other down a course to the finish line.

As the Snowboard Cross course was not lit up the night before, we couldn't truly appreciate the size of the track.  It was very large and very high up into the mountain.  From the ground spectator area, we couldn't even see the starting gate, and our view of at least half the course was obstructed by other turns or snow hills.  We ended up watching most of the races on the screens, until the athletes got to the final few turns and became visible again.

However, it was still a fun event to attend, especially with lots of other fans strongly supporting their athletes.  France had 4 athletes of the 32 finalists, including 3 of the top 5 in the seeding run, and their fans were singing loudly in support.  Australia had 3 finalists and their fans brought some inflatable kangaroos to show their support.  Lastly hometown favorite and 2018 Snowboard Cross Gold Medalist Michela Moioli 🇮🇹 was loudly supported by many Italian fans with their "Forza Michela" signs and flags.

After the seeding runs and a 2 hour break, the 32 finalists were placed into a bracket, with heats of 4 Snowboarders racing at a time.  The top 2 finalists in each race advanced to the next round, until there were only 4 left for the Gold Medal final.

Surprisingly none of the French snowboarders qualified for the final, despite having 3 of the top 5 qualifiers.  The final did include Italian Michela Moioli, who was the strong crowd favorite, except for those directly supporting the other 3 finalists.

In the final, Moioli finished in 3rd and claimed the Bronze Medal, while 23-year-old Australian Josie Baff took the Gold.

After the event ended, we left before the Victory Ceremony in hopes of getting on the first shuttle bus back to Switzerland and doing as much of our 3+ hour drive to Cortina in the daylight as possible.  So we said Arrivederci to Livigno and hit the road.

After picking up our car back in Zernez, Switzerland, we had about a 4 hour drive to get to our next accomodations just outside of Cortina d'Ampezzo.  After the experience of driving the winding mountain roads after dusk from a few nights before, we tried to keep our stops to a minimum and get as much of the drive done in the remaining hours of daylight as possible.

Camping Sass Dlacia

Our accomodations for the next few nights were at a campsite in the Badia region called Camping Sass Dlacia.  We arrived late in the evening and picked up the keys to our cozy little A-Frame Cabin.  

The cabin had just enough room for a large bed, a few suitcases, an electric heater, and a couple pairs of boots.  However, the campsite also had very nice communal bathrooms/showers, a restaurant, laundry, and other communal amenities.  Given the small amount of non-sleeping time we were spending in the cabin, it worked out great for us.

Cortina d'Ampezzo

Cortina d'Ampezzo, known as the "Queen of the Dolomites," is a historic ski resort town surrounded by towering mountains.  Cortina previously played host to the 1956 Winter Olympics, and was selected as the co-host city for 2026 along with Milano, hosting Curling, Sliding Sports (Bobsleigh, Luge, and Skeleton), and Women's Alpine Skiing.

Cortina was larger than Livigno and featured many restaurants, high-end ski shops, and houses displaying the culture and food of participating nations.

To get to Cortina each day, we drove 20 minutes from our campsite to another Park & Ride, where a shuttle bus drove us into town.  After seeing the size of the streets, lack of parking, and few routes in and out of the town, it became obvious why they wanted as few people driving their own cars in town as possible.

Curling @ Cortina Olympic Ice Stadium

Cortina previously hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956.  For those games, an outdoor open-air stadium was built to host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Figure Skating, and Ice Hockey: the Stadio Olimpico del Ghiaccio.  This stadium was a horseshoe shape that showed off its unique wooden stands and had beautiful views of the Dolomites peaks behind it.

In the 1980s, a roof was added to prevent delays due to clearing the snow from the ice and seats.  In the 2000s, the stadium was renovated again to enclose the arena and bring it up to modern facility standards for sports including hockey.

For the 2026 games, the stadium was chosen to host of Curling, a sport that was not even in the Olympics program when the stadium was first used in the 1956 games.

While the exterior of the stadium now looks sleek and modern, and the views of the Dolomites are now hidden by the roof, the original character of the wooden stands can still be seen inside.

At the Curling venue, we met Tina, the official mascot of the 2026 Olympic Games.  Tina is a white-furred stoat, a small mammal in the weasel family native to the Italian Alps.  Her brother, Milo, is brown-furred and was born without one of his four paws.  He is the official mascot of the 2026 Paralympic Games, and adapts by using his tail to walk and play sports.  The mascots Tina and Milo were the winners of a contest for Italian schoolchildren to brainstorm the mascots for the games, and their names are short for the host cities, Cortina and Milano.

For Men's and Women's Curling at the 2026 Olympics, 10 countries qualified for each competition.  Each team of 4 players representing their country would play one Round-Robin match against each of the other 9 teams.  The 4 teams with the best record after playing 9 matches would advanced to the Semifinals and play for medals.  But because there are 10 teams and only 4 ice sheets in the stadium (enough for 8 teams), all teams would have scheduled days off during the Round-Robin play.

We had tickets to two Curling events, both Men's Round-Robin plays: Draw 5 on Saturday and Draw 8 on Monday.

In Draw 5, the USA was playing against Germany. 

We didn't expect how busy it would be in-person with 4 different matches all going on at the same time.  When the USA was throwing, we tried our best to focus on the match, but it was easy to get distracted by other matches, especially when fans of other countries start cheering randomly.  I can't imagine how difficult it must be for the athletes to differentiate their teammates' voices from the other teams shouting "HARD! HARD!" just a few feet away from them.

The USA had a phenomenal start with a 4-point first end that put them in a great position.  They held off a late challenge from the Germans and won 8-6.

 In Draw 8, the USA had an off day.  We had seats in the "end zone" for this match, high up in the old wooden seats.  Because the USA wasn't playing, we chose to cheer against the Cheating Canadians.  Unforunately the Czechs were terrible and Canada won easily. 

Skeleton and Bobsleigh @ Cortina Sliding Center

The other main venue in Cortina d'Ampezzo is the Cortina Sliding Center, home to Bobsleigh, Skeleton, and Luge.

The Sliding Center was originally built for the 1956 Olympics.  However, in the 2000s it went into disrepair and sat vacant until the 2026 Organizers needed a sliding venue.  The center was given a 118-million Euro renovation that redeveloped it into a modern track suitable for hosting the modern Olympics. The new track is 1,749 meters long (5,738 feet) with 16 curves, with top athletes completing the run in 55 to 60 seconds at up to 145 km/h (90 mph).

In almost all of the sliding events, competitors get 4 runs on the track over 2 days, with medals going to the competitors with lowest combined time for all runs.  There's no mulligans or room for error.

We had tickets to the Women's Skeleton finals (Heats 3 & 4) on Saturday and Men's Two-Man finals (Heats 1 & 2) on Monday.

FUN FACT: There are only 16 sliding centers across the entire globe that are currently used for competition.  4 are in Germany, 2 are in the USA, and 1 each are in Austria, Canada, China, France, Italy, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Russia, and Switzerland.

The Germans and Austrians tend to dominate the podiums at the sliding sports accordingly.

There were a couple Americans in the Women's Skeleton heats, but they finished in the middle of the pack.

The Women's Skeleton Medal Podium was dominated by, you guessed it - Germans and Austrians!  Over 4 runs, the Gold Medal was decided by three tenths of a second...

Final Results

🥇🇦🇹 Janine Flock - 3:49.02

🥈🇩🇪 Susanne Kreher - 3:49.32

🥉🇩🇪 Jacqueline Pfeifer - 3:49.46

Given the mile-long length of the track and speeds of up to 90 miles per hour, you get to see about half a second of each run wherever you're standing.  While it was really cool to see in person, it's probably one of the sports that's easier to follow on TV.

One of the American duos fared better in Bobsled, having the 4th best combined time after Heats 1 & 2.  They finished in 4th the next day with the Germans sweeping the podium.

Dolomites & Secada

On Sunday between our two days in Cortina, we took a day trip out to see the Dolomites, a mountain range in the Italian Alps.  Thankfully the weather was sunny and just above freezing, making it a perfect day to be outdoors.

We drove to the town of Ortisei in the Val Gardena valley, making a few stops at scenic overlooks along the way.

After stopping for lunch in Ortisei, we took a two-tier cable car up to the Seceda Overlook. 

We bought Secada visitors passes and packed into the cable cars with a bunch of skiiers.  In about 15 minutes the lift carried us from the valley up to 2,500 meters above sea level (8,200 feet), where a short walk from the station led to some of the best views of the Dolomites. 

We spent some time hiking up the ridge, taking photos, and soaking in the alpine panorama before heading back down.

After stopping for lunch in Ortisei, we took a two-tier cable car up to the Seceda Overlook. 

We bought Secada visitors passes and packed into the cable cars with a bunch of skiiers.  In about 15 minutes the lift carried us from the valley up to 2,500 meters above sea level (8,200 feet), where a short walk from the station led to some of the best views of the Dolomites. 

We spent some time hiking up the ridge, taking photos, and soaking in the alpine scenery before heading back down.

We stopped in Ortisei for a few snacks and then headed out for another hour+ drive to Predazzo for Ski Jumping in the evening, making a few more stops along the way.

Ski Jumping in Predazzo

When doing our research into what events we wanted to see in person, everyone had different opinions:

"Bobsled is super fun even though they go by really quickly..."  

"Biathlon is interesting but half of it is just watching people cross country ski..."

"Figure Skating is the best!  Hockey is too violent..."

However, nearly every post we read online seemed to agree: "You have to see Ski Jumping in person if you're going to the Winter Olympics."

So we found a spot in our schedule to make it work on Sunday Night, and bought tickets for the Women's Ski Jumping Large Hill Finals in Predazzo.

Again, in the spirit of re-use, the tiny town of Predazzo (about 90 minutes from Cortina) had an existing Ski Jumping Hill that was retrofitted for Olympic competition, instead of building another venue to host the event in Cortina.

50 athletes qualified for the Women's Ski Jumping Large Hill Finals we attended.  All 50 got to jump in Round 1, and the 30 that scored the highest advanced to the Final Round, where their scores from both rounds were added together, and the top 3 earned medals.

Going into the competition, we didn't know much about ski jumping other than that competitors try to stay in the air as long as possible before touching the ground.  We figured that the skier that goes the farthest distance would win Gold, within reason.

However, while distance is part of the scoring, we had no idea how big of an impact the wind has.

FUN FACT: The lines in the snow along the hill are not painted - they are actually pine needles!  The needles/branches are stuck into the snow at meter intervals to help skiers gain better depth perception at high speeds than painted lines would.  The 3D lines help them judge their distance and land more safely than paint.

Sunday night in Predazzo was definitely the coldest weather we experienced on the trip.  However, it was still in the mid 20s Farenheit and the wind wasn't too bad.

However, all things considered, we got pretty lucky with the weather.  The very next night was the final Ski Jumping event of the Olympics, Men's Team Finals, at the same venue in Predazzo.  The teams went in two preliminary rounds and then a final round.  After the first two rounds, a blizzard rolled in which caused frequent delays for crews to maintain the venue, and caused astronomical wind corrections.  After multiple delays, the final round was deemed cancelled in the middle of the event, with medals to be awarded to the teams that ended after two rounds in podium position.  Thankfully we did not have to drive back another 90 minutes in a blizzard, or see our event halted prematurely.

After almost a week in the mountains, it was time to leave the cold and head to Milano, the other host city of the 2026 Games.

We made one last stop in Santa Maddalena Alta to do a 45-minute hike to see one last picturesque view of the Dolomites. 

As we made our way down in elevation towards Milano and left the Alps in the background, the weather warmed up, the sun came out, and the grapevines returned to the roadside.  The Alps remained off in the distance for most of the drive.

Exploring Milano

After about a 5 hour drive and a $90 USD Diesel Refill for the rental car, we arrived in Milano.

Milano is the Fashion and Financial capital of Italy.  It resembles a fast-paced metropolitan city like New York more than most cities in Italy.  However, it still has the charm of centuries-old architecture, grand piazzas, ancient churches, and famous artwork.

It also still has very narrow streets, often made of cobblestone, making it difficult to drive around and dodge pedestrians in.  Thus, we returned our rental car after dropping off our luggage, and stuck with public transit and walking as our means of getting around for the rest of the trip.

After changing and re-booking our accomodations in Milano multiple times, we settled on Rooms Milano Duomo, as it was close to downtown and train stations.  The location could not be beat - we were right in the heart of Downtown Milano, surrounded by luxury fashion shops and restaurants, and just a few minute walk to the Duomo cathedral.

The Metro connected our hotel to just about anywhere in the city within a 10 to 20 minute train ride.

We were frequently warned about the prevelance of pick-pockets on the trains and in the train stations of Milano.  We were cautious with placing our phones and wallets in safe places and vigilent of our surroundings, but never once saw any suspicious activity or had anyone try to take anything from us or our neighbors on the trains.

Most of the days we were in Milano, we had tickets to hockey games in the evening, so we had most of the days to walk/bike around and explore the different areas of the city.  Thankfully the weather was beautiful every day except one in Milano - generally sunny with highs in the high 50s to low 60s every day.

We walked and biked around town looking at the famous sights and sounds, including the Sforza Castle from the 15th Century.

Many of the shops and piazzas across town were decorated for the Winter Olympics, from window displays and billboards to curling stone plushies and giant skiing wheels of cheese. 

Milano is divided up into 9 different Administrative Zones (Neighborhoods), each with their own unique architecture, shops, restaurants, and people.

The Porta Nuova neighborhood is home to Milan's primary financial district, recognized as one of Europe's most high-tech and richest business hubs, featuring the Unicredit and Unipol Towers, Bosco Verticale, and Piazza Gae Aulenti.

The CityLife urban district is a modern neighborhood developed from former fairgrounds, featuring high-end residential towers, iconic skyscrapers, a shopping district, and large public parks.

The Navigli District in southwest Milan is a charming, historic neighborhood famous for its scenic canals and vibrant nightlife.  Canals were built in Milano around the 1100s for travel, defense, and irrigation.  In the 1400s, the same canals were used to deliver marble to the city center for the construction of the Duomo cathedral.

Unfortunately many of the canals have since been diverted or filled in and paved over.  However, two canals still exist in the Navigli district, and serve as a scenic waterway for boat tours, paddle boarding, and kayaking.

The Porta Romana district was home to the Olympic Village, where athletes participating in Hockey, Speed Skating, and Figure Skating had the option of staying.  The Olympic Village was built on top of an abandoned railway yard, and the apartment towers will be repurposed as university housing after the Olympics and Paralympics conclude.

Throughout the rest of Milano, you'll find a smattering of centuries-old historic buildings and statues integrated into modern buildings.

Duomo di Milano & Galleria

Located in the heart of the city is the Duomo di Milano, a massive Gothic cathedral the serves as one of the most recognizable landmarks in Italy.  Construction of the church began in 1386 and took nearly 600 years to fully complete.  It is covered with more than 3,000 statues, intricate carvings, and soaring marble spires.  Inside it feels enormous with towering columns and stained glass windows.

The piazza in front of the Duomo was used as one of the main spaces for Olympic Visitors and Hospitality, home to the Megastore and broadcasting studios.

Nextdoor to the Duomo is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (or just "The Galleria"), an outdoor covered shopping center built in 1877 that is home to many luxury retailers, bars, and restaurants.

Food & Drinks

Thankfully Milano had plenty of options for different varieties of food, as we were looking for anything besides the cold-cuts and cold-cut sandwiches that were the main option at restaurants and in the Olympic venues up in the mountains.

The Cuisine of Milano is quite different from what many people picture as “classic” Italian food.  Because the area is farther north and historically wealthier, dishes tend to use more butter, cream, rice, and cheese rather than the olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood common in southern Italy.  Milano's two most famous dishes are Risotto alla Milanese (creamy saffron rice) and Cotoletta alla Milanese (breaded veal cutlet similar to schnitzel).

Olympic Pin Trading

Often called an Unofficial Sport of the Olympics, the trading of souvenir pins is a hobby for fans, athletes, and volunteers alike that goes back more than a century.  Justin has collected pins since he was about 8 years old, so naturally he was in his element here, stopping to look at the lanyards and hats of fans and volunteers whenever one walked by with pins.

I brought about 25 pins from the USA to trade with others at the games: mostly with the theme of USA hockey, bobsled, and other American sports.  However, we were surprised that when someone else stopped Justin to look at his pins and propose a trade, the conversation usually went like this:

"Hello, do you want to trade pins?"

"Sure!  Take a look at mine and let me know what you are interested in."

*staring at the pins* "Uh, are they all USA pins...?"

"Yeah..."

"Ok, thank you..." *walks away*

As Americans, we somewhat expected cold impressions from locals and other international tourists, given America's current political climate and recent attacks (diplomatic and otherwise) on The EU, Greenland, Norway, and Iran, among others.  However, pin trading was mostly the only time we ever seemed to get flak for USA stuff (except for from Canadians at Curling), which also makes me think other traders have too many USA pins and mine just weren't unique enough to be interesting.

After some time, I started accepting any trades that someone else proposed, just to diversify my traders and have some variety to trade for pins I actually wanted.

In Milano, there was an official Pin Trading Center, where pin traders new and old came to exchange pins.  Many traders brought binders/folders of hundreds of pins for trade, some from Olympics back as far as the 1970s.

Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena

The Milano Santa Giulia Arena was the home for most of the ice hockey games at the Olympics, and all the medal round games.  

The construction of the arena just before the start of the games was the source of much controversy, with many worrying that the arena wouldn't be ready on time and/or that the ice surface wouldn't be good enough to host NHL players.  There were also complaints from hockey purists about the size of the ice surface and the fact that the boards weren't right next to the fans.

All of these supposed concerns were greatly overexaggerated in our experience.  The arena was 99% complete and perfectly capable of hosting 12,000+ hockey fans for the Olympics, save for a few unpainted walls far above escalators.

Most of the complaints about the rink size and positioning ignore the fact that the arena was not built as a long-term home for hockey, as hockey is not very popular in Italy outside of far northern alpine towns.  Calcio (Soccer) is king in Italy, and this arena was built to host concerts and other indoor sports after a month of temporarily hosting Olympic and Paralympic Hockey.  Thus, the dimensions of the arena and stands were not built with hockey in mind.

However, all things considered, the arena checked all the boxes and provided a great fan experience for Olympic hockey.

We had seats in the top 2-3 rows of the corner for all but one of the hockey games we went to, and the sightlines were completely fine.  There were a handful of seats throughout the arena that had slightly obstructed views due to temporary seating, all of which were priced very fairly and labeled properly.

The arena is situated a short distance from the Rogoredo Station on the M3 metro line, which connects it to most of Milano.  However, because all visitors were funneled into a security checkpoint on the opposite side of the arena from the metro station, it was about a 30 minute walk to get to the arena.  However, they had shuttle buses running between the arena and metro station every few minutes, and we only ever had to wait for a bus for 10-15 minutes when nearly everyone left a game at the same time.

FUN FACT: The Olympics are very strict about honoring their corporate partnerships.  At security checkpoints, we were frequently asked to unfurl flags and signs to prove that there were no non-official sponsor logos on them that might accidentally end up on a TV Broadcast or in event photos.

In-stadium concessions were limited strictly to brands that were Olympic partners.  At all the venues:

The only beer for sale was Corona, the official beer of the Olympics. 🍺

The only beverages for sale were Coke products, the official soda of the Olympics. 🥤

And you can only pay for concessions with cash or a Visa card, the official credit card of the Olympics. 💳

While some venues had other wine options (Prosecco was the official sparkling wine of the Olympics 🍾), Santa Giulia only had two alcoholic beverage choices for hockey games: Corona and pre-mixed Aperol Spritzes.

Ice Hockey: Men's Preliminary Round

Some of the first tickets we bought were for the Women's Gold Medal Game, because we figured it was going to be a USA-Canada final, like it almost always is.  Since Women's Hockey joined the Olympics in 1998, it has been USA vs Canada for the Gold in all but one occasion (2006).

However, on the Men's side, there was a lot more uncertainty with the addition of NHL Players for the first time since 2014, and the USA's shortcomings in past Olympics and International tournaments.  Therefore, we were initially going to hold off on buying Men's tickets until the group stage was complete and we knew where the USA was playing.  However, right around Christmas 2025, Jordan randomly checked the Olympic Tickets website and found tickets available in the last few rows for all the Men's Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Gold Medal Game.  He jumped on them, and we figured we could sell the tickets to games that we didn't want to go to.  He also bought tickets to the late game of the Preliminary Round, which was the first night we got into Milano.

On Tuesday February 27, all 4 Preliminary Round games were played, with 3 games at Milano Santa Giulia Arena, and one at the smaller Rho Arena.  We spent most of the day traveling from the mountains, and just had tickets to the late game, starting at 9:00pm local time.

We bought tickets knowing it would be a long day after traveling, and were prepared to sell them if needed.  However, the late game was announced as Sweden vs Latvia, and we were excited to see a preview of the team the USA would play the following night in the quarterfinals.

Unfortunately for the Latvian fans in attendance, it wasn't much of a contest.  Sweden was up 2-0 after one period and easily skated to a 5-1 victory.  Based on talent alone, this Sweden team deserved a bye, but pool play ended accordingly and Sweden took out their frustration on the Latvian team with only 6 NHL Players on the roster.  Sweden advanced to the Quarterfinals to play the #2 seed USA the next night.

Ice Hockey: Men's Quarterfinal Round

On Wednesday February 27, all 4 Quarterfinal Round games were played, again with 3 at Santa Giulia and 1 at Rho.

Before the Olympics started, we purchased tickets to all 3 Quarterfinal games at Santa Giulia, hoping to maximize our chances at seeing Team USA play at least one game.  Team USA won their pool and got a bye to advance straight to the Quarterfinals, and (we found out later) was guaranteed to play in the late game at Santa Giulia.

Unfortunately for us, this time slot conflicted with the other tickets we had for Short Track Speed Skating medal rounds on the other side of town.  While we were looking forward to seeing Speed Skating, Hockey took priority and we easily sold our Speed Skating tickets on the Olympics App.

We took the train to Santa Giulia in the afternoon and arrived a few minutes into the Canada-Czechia Quarterfinal, where it was already 1-1 just a few minutes in.  Canada entered the Olympics as the Gold Medal favorites, and were heavily favored in this matchup vs Czechia.

The Czechs, with 12 active NHL players on their 25-man Roster and a handful of former NHLers now playing abroad, had some firepower of their own, but lacked depth when compared to the Canadians.

Boston Bruins star David Pastrnak gave the underdog Czechs a 2-1 lead late in the first period.

Canada tied it 2-2 in the second on the power play after Czechia took a needless penalty in the offensive zone.  Canada's PP had an embarrassment of riches with McDavid, MacKinnon, Celebrini, Reinhart, and Makar all on the ice for the tying goal.

With 8 minutes left in the third period, the Czechs took the lead on a controversial goal from Ondrej Palat.  On further review, the Czechs had at least 6 (if not 7) skaters on the ice for their tying goal.  This was not noticed by the referees, and was not reviewable by a coach's challenge.

It would have gone down as one of the most controversial goals in hockey history if the Canadians had lost the game because of it.  However, with 3 minutes remaining, Nick Suzuki tied it up for Canada and sent the game to 3-on-3 overtime.

37 saves for Czech goalie Lukas Dostal was not enough, as Canada won the game just a minute into overtime, with a goal by Mitch Marner.

Between the two late games, all fans with tickets for both games were asked to leave the arena and hang out in an outside pedestrian plaza until the arena could be cleared and briefly cleaned.  After a 30 minute wait, our tickets for the late game were scanned and we were allowed back for the highly-anticipated nightcap of USA vs Sweden.

USA vs Sweden also featured a duel of Detroit Red Wings players: Dylan Larkin vs Lucas Raymond.  

Larkin previously played against the other Red Wing in the Olympics, Moritz Seider, in the pool play matchup of USA vs Germany.

Midway through the first period, Larkin scored his first goal of the Olympics, assisted by both the Hughes brothers, to give the USA a 1-0 lead.

The USA led 1-0 after 1, and kept their foot on the gas in the second period, outshooting Sweden 30-19 through two periods.

Things were looking good for the USA, until they decided to take their foot off the gas in the third.

The tying goal felt inevitable after the USA sat back and tried to run down the clock all period, instead of trying to score an insurance goal against a tired team that played the night before.  Sweden had numerous chances and outshot them 10-4 in the third.  

With their goalie pulled, Lucas Raymond dished a slick pass to Mika Zibanejad, who tied it for Sweden with less than 2 minutes to go.

"Here we go again," we moaned, as we began discussing coaching and roster decisions that has led USA Hockey to underperform at the highest level once again.

The saving grace of 3-on-3 overtime was that the Swedes had to get tired eventually, right?

Whatever head coach Mike Sullivan said in the intermission break must have worked.  The Americans came out for 3-on-3 overtime fast and furious, looking to advance to the Semifinals.

They outshot Sweden 5-0 until Quinn Hughes, one of the best skaters in the NHL, danced around the Swedes and fired a wrist shot off the post and in, past Jacob Markstrom.

The American Men breathes a sigh of relief and advance to a semifinals for a date with Slovakia.

Ice Hockey: Women's Gold Medal 🥇

Thursday Night the Men took a break as it was time for the Women's Gold Medal Game.

USA vs Canada - the rematch everyone was hoping to see yet again for Gold, after the two teams split the previous two Olympics, with USA winning in 2018 in Pyeongchang and Canada in 2022 in Beijing.

The American Women beat Canada 5-0 in their Group Play matchup and entered the game as heavy favorites (-500 on some sportsbooks).  They brought a younger, faster, although less-experienced roster to the Olympics compared to Canada's roster of mostly seasoned veterans.

Despite the American domination in the now-meaningless pool play game, everyone knew the Canadians wouldn't go down without a fight.

Canada also had the crowd on their side - at least 70% of the crowd was Canadian fans, or neutral fans cheering for the Canadians.  And the fans were loud and supportive of their team.

The first period started off slow, with both teams afraid to make the first mistake and risk going down 1-0.  The Americans took a few penalties and killed them off relatively easily, avoiding damage.  With 15 seconds left in the first, they drew a penalty of their own, which extended into the start of the second period.

Starting the second period on the power play seemed like a great opportunity for Team USA.  That is, until Canada's Kristin O'Neill and Laura Edwards broke away for a shorthanded 2-on-1 and slid the puck past Aerin Frankel for a 1-0 lead.  This goal was only the second goal allowed all Olympics by Frankel, and ended the Olympic record-setting 352-minute consecutive shutout streak by American goalies.

The Canadian fans were jubilant.  Us Americans were down, but still optimistic that we had the better, faster, younger team that could still win this game. 

The second period ended fairly evenly matched, still 1-0 with the Canadians ahead.  The third started similarly, with the Canadians clamping down and limiting American offensive possessions.  As the minutes on the clock ticked away, we felt the chances at Gold fading away.

With 7 minutes remaining, Canada took a boarding penalty - the perfect opportunity to tie the game up and get back into it.  Team USA had few quality chances on the power play and let it slip by.  The Canadians continued to frustrate the Americans and prevent them from getting the puck past the neutral zone.

With 3 minutes to go, Frankel went to the bench for the extra attacker.  After winning an offensive-zone faceoff, 22-year-old defender Laila Edwards ripped a shot from the blue line, and Captain Hilary Knight in her fifth Olympics tipped it into the net to tie the game 1-1.

The Americans kept on and had a few decent changes to win it in the last minute after tying it late, but ultimately time ran out and forced 3-on-3 Overtime for the Gold Medal.

With the younger team, we thought the Americans had the upper hand in 3-on-3, but one bad bounce or blocked shot can be all it takes to see the fates reversed.

Four minutes into Overtime, Michigan-native Megan Keller got a stretch pass from Taylor Heise up ice.  The American defender danced around the one Canadian back and chipped the puck into the net for the Golden Goal!

 🦅🥇🇺🇸 USA WINS GOLD!  PLAY FREE BIRD! 🦅🥇🇺🇸

Ice Hockey: Men's Semifinal Round

The night after the American women took Gold, the Men were back in action for the Semifinals against Slovakia.  Before the USA game, Canada played Finland and barely escaped yet another scare to advance to the Gold Medal round.

Team USA was heavily favored against Slovakia entering the semifinals.  Team Slovakia, with just 7 NHL players on its roster, earned its way to this stage, winning their pool and advancing to the Semis after beating Germany in the Quarterfinals.  However, on paper, Slovakia did not match up well with the Americans.

On the Ice, Slovakia did not that talent gap.  The Americans led from the start, with another Dylan Larkin goal 4 minutes into the game.  

Tage Thompson added another to go up 2-0 after the first period.

Jack Hughes and Jack Eichel each added to the lead in the second period, making it 5-0 USA after two.

Despite the score, the Slovakian fans around us still loudly supported their team.  When Slovakia got on the board early in the third period, they cheered and chanted like they had won the game.  "SLO-VENS-KO!  SLO-VENS-KO!"

One group of Slovakian fans behind us came back from the intermission to find some American fans squatting in their seats.  After telling them to move, one Slovakian fan angrily kicked trash at them that he assumed they left behind.  As they walked away, he mumbled "Stupid American Gypsies!"

Despite the Slovakians not giving up, the Team USA cruised to a 6-2 victory and clinched a spot in the Gold Medal Game.

Ice Hockey: Men's Gold Medal 🥇

After a day off on Saturday, Sunday Afternoon arrived with the last event and crown jewel of the Winter Olympics: the Men's Hockey Gold Medal Game.

The weather in Milano was reminiscent of spring playoff hockey in Detroit (if anyone can still remember that...) - almost 70 degrees F and not a cloud in the sky.

We took the metro to Santa Giulia for one final time.  The train stations and cars were packed with fans in both USA and Canada jerseys.

Given the fact that neither of us have "acquired" a taste for beer or care much for Aperol, we stopped for some pre-game Prosecco at a stand in the train station and a restaurant just outside of it.  

Here we realized that, just like the Women's Gold Game, we were again greatly outnumbered by Canadian fans.

USA and Canada meet in the Men's Gold Medal Game for the 7th time - most recently won both by Canada in 2002 and 2010.

In past years, Canada has been a favorite in the matchup.  Entering this game, their rosters were the most even in memory, with Canada having superior skill on offense, and the Americans with better defense and goaltending.

After a few good chances by Team Canada and a thundering hit by Tom Wilson in the first few minutes, the crowd was very loud in support of Canada.

However, 6 minutes in, Matt Boldy split two Canadian defenders and scored a beautiful goal all by himself to give Team USA and early lead and quiet the majority-Canadian crowd.  The rest of the first period was relatively even, ending 8-8 in shots and with 1-0 USA lead.

Early in the second, the Canadians began to relentlessly pressure the American Defense.  Team USA took 2 penalties and gave the Canadians 1:28 of 5-on-3 power play.  We were already preparing ourselves for the game to be tied or worse, but American goalie Connor Hellebuyck stood on his head and gave USA chances to clear the puck and breathe.

Despite the penalty kills, Cale Makar tied it for Canada in the last 2 minutes of the period with a snipe past Hellebuyck.  The period ended tied with Canada outshooting USA 19 to 8.

The start of the third period featured more domination by the Canadians, with lots of great scoring chances and Connor Hellebuyck standing on his head.  Hellebuyck robbed Devon Toews of a goal with a stick save 2 minutes into the third, and followed by stopping a Celebrini breakaway 3 minutes later.  With 10 minutes left, Nathan MacKinnon missed a wide open net, missing another chance to give Canada the go-ahead goal.