Your five-minute guide to the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics

It’s the greatest sporting show on ice.

The 2026 editions of the Winter Olympics and Paralympics take place in Italy in both Milan and Cortina D'Ampezzo - making it the first ever Olympic Games to be officially co-hosted by two cities.

The Olympic Rings and Paralympic Agitos with a snow capped mountain behind them — Image caption,
The Winter Olympics take place from 6-22 February, while the Winter Paralympics run from 6-15 March 2026

BBC Bitesize gets you up to speed with everything you need to know about winter sport's most prestigious events.

What are the Winter Olympics and Paralympics?

Basically, if the sport is played on ice or snow, it probably features in the Winter Olympics or Paralympics.

The Games celebrate athletes from around the world who compete in traditional and modern winter sports.

Some events, such as figure skating or ice hockey, actually began life as Summer Olympics events. Figure skating was part of the programme at the 1908 London Games, although the event actually took place several months after the other sports.

The 1920 Olympics in Antwerp saw ice hockey join figure skating – this time with both competitions being held in April, before the main Games.

Following the Belgian Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to introduce a week of winter sports for future host countries, with 1924 hosts France holding a competition in ski resort Chamonix.

A black and white photo of the 1924 British curling team, dressed in their formal playing uniforms, stood on the ice — Image caption,
The 1924 British men's curling team won the competition at the Chamonix Winter Olympics - retrospectively confirmed as the country's first ever Winter Olympic gold

This event proved such a success that the following year, a full Winter Olympics was announced with Chamonix’s competition retrospectively known as the first Games.

Milano Cortina's Olympic Games – in which almost 3,000 athletes from around 90 countries will compete – is the 25th edition.

What sports take place at the Winter Olympics?

There are 16 different disciplines set to feature at Milano Cortina 2026 which can be split into two groups - those played on ice and those played on snow.

The ice events feature a mixture of indoor and outdoor sports. Ice hockey, figure and speed skating (including the faster short track speed skating) and curling all take place on indoor ice rinks. Sledding events, such as bobsleigh, skeleton and luge see competitors in action on constructed outdoor courses.

An overhead shot of an Olympic ice hockey match. Swedish players in yellow kit compete with Slovakian players in blue. The Olympic rings are shown on the ice. — Image caption,
Ice hockey has featured at every edition of the Winter Olympics - but made its Olympic debut at the Summer Games in Antwerp in 1920

The traditional alpine skiing races take place on snow on outdoor slopes - with the likes of the slalom and the downhill also joined by the relatively modern freestyle skiing and snowboarding programmes.

The Nordic events also take place outdoors on snow courses - these include ski jumping, cross-country skiing and the biathlon, where cross-country is combined with rifle shooting. There is another multi-sport event, the Nordic combined, where cross-country skiers must also take on the ski jump.

A brand new sport makes its debut for the 2026 Games - ski mountaineering, also known as 'skimo'. This new event sees athletes climbing slopes while wearing skis with sticky, grippy skins on them, before taking off the skis and carrying them up the steeper ascents. Once at the top, competitors remove the grippy skins and take on a challenging ski descent.

What’s the difference between the Winter Olympics and Paralympics?

Milano Cortina's Games in 2026 will be the 14th edition of the Winter Paralympics, with the first Games taking place in Örnsköldvik, Sweden in 1976. Since 1992, all Winter Paralympics take place in the same location as that year’s Winter Olympics.

The number of sports in the Winter Paralympics is far fewer than that of the Olympics. There are just six – with alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, para ice hockey, snowboarding and wheelchair curling events set to take place.

Great Britain's Paralympic snowboarder Ollie Hill in mid flight as part of a qualifying round for the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics — Image caption,
Great Britain's Ollie Hill won bronze at the 2022 Winter Paralympics - ParalympicsGB's first ever snowboarding medal

However, within each sport, there are multiple different versions of each event, due to the classification system. This sees competitors grouped together with others who have similar physical or visual impairments. A total of 79 medal events will take place.

How have Great Britain done at the Games?

A lack of consistent snow across much of the country means Team GB and ParalympicsGB are rarely among the favourites for winter competition.

Team GB went to Beijing in 2022 with relatively high hopes, on the back of their most successful Winter Olympics ever four years earlier in South Korea.

But the Games were seen as a disappointment, with Britain only winning two medals, below their pre-competition target.

The 2022 British women's curling team jump in the air holding their Winter Olympic gold medals with the Olympic rings behind them — Image caption,
Curlers Milli Smith, Hailey Duff, Jennifer Dodds, Vicky Wright and Eve Muirhead celebrate their 2022 Winter Olympics gold - Team GB's only gold of the Games

Both of those medals came in curling - with the women's squad winning gold and the men's team taking silver.

They're aiming for a record-breaking performance in Italy, with UK Sport setting them a target of between four and eight medals in total - with the current best performance of five medals coming in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

The Paralympic squad won six medals in total in Beijing - including a historic gold medal for visually impaired skier Neil Simpson. His win made him the first British athlete ever to win a gold medal on snow. ParalympicsGB are looking for between two and five medals in Italy to consider the 2026 Games a success.

Which British athletes are tipped to do well in Milan Cortina 2026?

The ambitious target for British medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics acknowledges strong performances in international competition over the past year.

Britain's curlers will be looking to continue their excellent Olympic form - the men are the reigning world champions while the women's team took silver at the European Championships.

Image caption,
British freestyle skier Zoe Atkin finished ninth in the halfpipe at the Beijing Games in 2022 - but heads to Milano Cortina in top form as a genuine medal prospect

Matt Weston will be looking to add an Olympic title to his two world titles in the skeleton - a thrilling, high speed event where athletes race head first down an ice track on a small sled - while world champion freestyle skier Zoe Atkin heads to Italy in great form, eyeing a podium place.

Britain's most decorated Winter Paralympian Menna Fitzpatrick faces a race against time to be fit for the 2026 Games after suffering a knee injury in training in late 2025.

Visually impaired skier Menna Fitzpatrick takes part in a downhill slalom event with her guide, in all orange, ahead of her — Image caption,
Menna Fitzpatrick (left) is Britain's most decorated Paralympian, but faces a race against time to make the 2026 Games after suffering an injury

The visually impaired skier won one gold, three silvers and two bronze medals across the 2018 and 2022 Winter Paralympics, but is currently a doubt to compete in Italy.

Neil Simpson will be looking to defend his 2022 title while curler Jo Butterfield is aiming to be the first British athlete to win gold at both the Summer and Winter Paralympics following her Rio 2016 gold in the club throw.

This article was published in January 2022 and updated in January 2026