Winter Olympic Games Milano-Cortina 2026 News Road to Milano-Cortina 2026

[phelps 7,677]

Finally!

 

now we have the definitive location also for the Speedskating events at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

 

"After careful analyses, considering the characteristics of the two proposed solutions and the reflections that emerged in the last Control Room held last week in Rome, the Board of Directors of the Organizing Committee unanimously expressed itself in favor of the Fiera Rho project in Milan.

 

Milan's proposal, entirely financed by private capital, has highlighted, in addition to the advantage of territorial continuity with the other competition sites in the ice world - with the exception of Curling - a significant and greater concreteness combined with a reduction in operating costs: among them, the logistical issues relating to the movement of athletes, National and International Federations' officials and referees; the costs of food and accommodation and those of a dedicated and detached workforce at the new venue; not to be forgotten, the income deriving from the multiple purchase of tickets: thanks to territorial continuity, the fan will actually be able to enjoy a greater number of competitions in the same city.

 

On this occasion, the competition venue for the Speedskating discipline will exist only for the duration of the Olympic Games: a sustainable and innovative formula, which will allow Italy to be an example for the next editions of the Games, with a consequent strengthening of the binomial Sport and Olympic Movement.

Based on the decision of the EB, the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation will immediately start a collaboration with the International Skating Union (ISU) to carry out the project taking into consideration all the required technical requirements.

Today's vote is the result of in-depth analysis of all available details of both bids (Milan and Turin).

 

The decision taken today by the EB, following the indications that emerged from the Control Room, takes into account some fundamental elements: the technical needs of the Organizing Committee; the experience of athletes, officials and spectators; the very tight timing in which action must be taken; the legacy that the project will leave to the City of Milan." 

 

which legacy might have a temporary venue going to take years to be built and exist only for 2 weeks before being dismantled?   

Edited April 19, 2023 by phelps

[hckošice 14,834]

So  once again (I will cross-post this also to the WOG News thread). The 2026 Mens Ice Hockey Tournament Qualification already started in 2019 and first phase will end next Sunday at the end of the current IIHF World Championships.

 

The Top 8 ranked nations of the IIHF WOrld Ranking (not WCh standing) but IIHF Ranking will qualify directly to the Olympics

 

Italy as host nation is already qualified directly.

 

3 spots will remains open for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, should start already this year´s fall. There will be probably 3 rounds, with teams entering different rounds via their IIHF ranking, highest teams hosting the Tournaments), 1st team of each group/round advance higher, The 3 Final Qualifying Tournaments are expected next year´s 2024 August, the 9th, 10th and 11th ranked IIHF Ranking nations will host the tournaments, each tourney is always played with 4 teams, Nations entered the different tournaments according serpentine system from IIHF World Ranking 2023.

 

*Important: Russian participation is still uncertain and will be evaluated later this year, if RUS will be banned from the tournament The top 9 IIHF Ranking nations will qualify directly (RUS is frozen on 3rd place of this ranking despite not playing)

[hckošice 14,834]

14 hours ago, hckošice said:

So  once again (I will cross-post this also to the WOG News thread). The 2026 Mens Ice Hockey Tournament Qualification already started in 2019 and first phase will end next Sunday at the end of the current IIHF World Championships.

 

The Top 8 ranked nations of the IIHF WOrld Ranking (not WCh standing) but IIHF Ranking will qualify directly to the Olympics

 

Italy as host nation is already qualified directly.

 

3 spots will remains open for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, should start already this year´s fall. There will be probably 3 rounds, with teams entering different rounds via their IIHF ranking, highest teams hosting the Tournaments), 1st team of each group/round advance higher, The 3 Final Qualifying Tournaments are expected next year´s 2024 August, the 9th, 10th and 11th ranked IIHF Ranking nations will host the tournaments, each tourney is always played with 4 teams, Nations entered the different tournaments according serpentine system from IIHF World Ranking 2023.

 

*Important: Russian participation is still uncertain and will be evaluated later this year, if RUS will be banned from the tournament The top 9 IIHF Ranking nations will qualify directly (RUS is frozen on 3rd place of this ranking despite not playing)

Our main sport site explained today the current situation before the Quarterfinals

 

https://sport.aktuality.sk/c/aCYuFOV/ms-v-hokeji-2023-hokej-dnes-hokej-ms-slovensko-malo-stastie-a-je-kusok-od-priameho-postupu-na-zoh-2026-opat-musime-fandit-svajciarsku/

 

brief translate:

 

 

Slovakia is still in game for directly advancing to the 2026 Olympics. We however have to cheer for Switzerland again

 

Slovak hockey players will no longer participate in the 2023 IIHF World Hockey Championship, but there will still be important matches that will affect the future of our national team.

Specifically, the Winter Olympics in 2026.

 

Qualification to the Olympics are based on the world ranking of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) after the end of the current 2023 world championships.

 

How does it work?

The 8 best ranked teams of the IIHF 2023 World Ranking will advance directly to the Olympics,

but this time there is 1 question mark.

Russia is also in the top eight, although it did not play at the last championships at all due to the war in Ukraine, but according IIHF decidsion the World Ranking points were still added to them to the World Ranking.

And always the same amount 1120 points for 3rd Place, (They got the same amount of points for 3rd place, as they were in this position before the war). So now again they will receive points for 3rd place despite not playing at all again.)

 

The final decision about the participation or non-participation of Russia at the 2026 Winter Olympics (or at the Olympic Hockey tournament) will have to be decided until the start of next year the latest (Olympic Qualifying early rounds tournament will be already played).

 

However, if the Slovaks want to say after this world championship that they have the certain participation at the next Olympics, then they must be in the top eight of the world ranking. Now, currently... We are still in it.

At this year´s world championship, we took the overall 9th place and scored 960 points to the World Ranking.Thus we now have a total of 3,290 points and are still in last direct qualifying 8th place.

 

Only two national teams can overtake us - Germany and Latvia.

 

First, let´s look at the more dangerous and realistic possibility -

 

Germany already knows that if it does not win tomorrows Quarterfinal against Switzerland, they will receive exactly 1,000 points to the World Ranking for the 8th place from this Championship. GER finished fourth in the preliminary group A and since they had fewer points than the fourth team from the group B (Czechia) this means If they will fail in the quarter-finals they will be automatically ranked 8th and score "only" 1,000 points, which would have a total of 3,275 points, i.e. 15 less than Slovakia. Which would mean that the Slovaks will advance directly to the Olympics and do not have to wait for the decision on Russia´s eventual participation or ban.

 

Germany will play its quarter-final match against Switzerland. The Slovaks logically have to cheer for the Swiss ... again, just like in the last night match they played against host Latvia, which they sadly did not win in for Slovakia so needed regular time and thus did not help Slovakia to advance to the Quarterfinals.

 

However, we must also add that the Slovaks were also a bit lucky at the end of the day. And this because The Swiss lost after Overtime. If it was the opposite and they got the extra point instead of Latvia, that would be the disaster, because Germany would not be eighth overall, but seventh at worst in this Champioship. GER would have gained 20 more points and would have overtaken Slovakia in the IIHF World Ranking even if it had not advanced to the semi-finals by tragic and absolutely sorrowful 5 points.

 

 

However, let´s have also Caution number 2 in minds:

Latvia,

Even if the Swiss hopefully will succeed tomorrow and beat the Germans in the quarter-finals, one more thing will still have to be fulfilled to definitely send Slovakia directly to Milano-Cortina 2026.

Although this second caution is really very unlikely.

The Slovaks can at the end be also overtaken in the World Rankings by the Latvians - but only in case Latvia will win this whole Tournament to become world champions.

 

 

So basically, what is the most important for Slovak hockey fans ?

Tomorrow will be decided our direct or not-direct spot destiny for Milano-Cortina 2026:

If Germany and Latvia lose their quarter-final matches, the Slovaks will already and directly qualify to the 2026 Olympics.

 

 

I Translated this article from Šport.sk

[freds77 103]

I don't believe a second that Latvia will win the tournament. The main treat for Slovakia is Germany, of course!

[hckošice 14,834]

and Qualified in Men´s Ice Hockey (All 25 quotas)

 

3 spots remaining, They will be awarded next year´s late August at the 3 final Qualifying Tournaments hosted by Group 1, or Group B and C (will depend which one will host group B and which one Group C on the final standing of Latvia at the world champs this year. All should be known the latest this Sunday)

 

 

*the question mark anyway still remains on Russia, the latest this winter, early next year, IIHF will have to announce its final word, whether they will play in Milano/Cortina or not.

If they will be banned from Olympics (or atleast from Team sports...) then Slovakia will qualify directly and / will host FQT Groups A/B and the Group C

 

 

[hckošice 14,834]

According our (usually very well informed) media, IIHF already announced that the final statement about participation at the Men´s Ice Hockey Tournament in Cortina 2026 will be next year March ! (If the war will not end by then, they will be banned from the Tournament)

 

https://sport.aktuality.sk/c/iG7TXDZ/slovensko-zatial-priamo-nepostupi-na-zoh-2026-svajciarsko-opat-nepomohlo/

 

Slovakia does not yet qualify directly to the 2026 Olympics. Switzerland did not help... again

 

Slovakia´s ice hockey team is not yet qualified to the 2026 Winter Olympics and will have to wait for a decision on Russia. And maybe will have to fight once again in the qualification.

 

The 8 best teams from the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) world ranking after these World Championships qualify directly to the Olympic Games. The Slovaks were in 8th place before the quarter-final matches, and in order to stay there, they needed Switzerland to beat Germany in the quarter-finals.

 

Slovakia did not advance to the top eight and took 9th place overall, for which we earned only 960 points, so we have now 3,290. The Germans earned 1,000 points for advancing to the quarterfinals and had 3,275 - 15 less than the Slovaks. However, since they defeated Switzerland in today´s quarterfinal and advanced to the semi-finals, they will at least add another 100 points to their account and thus will move up ahead of Slovakia, which they relegated to 9th place in this World Ranking.

 

Switzerland did not help Slovakia... again,for the second time in less than 72 hours... previously Craig Ramsay´s team needed Switzerland to beat Latvia in regular time, but they failed to do so in an unimpressive performance to say the least, and so Latvia advanced to the play-offs at the expense of the Slovaks.

 

However, the Slovaks still have a chance for direct qualification.

Russia is among the top 8 nations of the world ranking, but for well known reasons does not compete in any IIHF events, and also its participation at the next Olympics is questionable.

 

The IIHF already informed that they should make the final decision about Russian participation in Milano-Cortina 2026 next March. If the highest Ice Hockey world stance determines that the Russians will not be under the five rings, Slovakia will then advance directly to the Olympics as the ninth team in the ranking by default.

If this does not happen and Russian team will be allowed to compete at the WOG´26, we will have to fight for the qualification once again in the qualification (just like before Beijing´22, we will have the right to host one of the final qualifying tournaments as the highest ranked non-qualified nation).

 

Slovakia can also still drop in the world rankings to 10th place, but Latvia would have to win the entire World Championship this Sunday.

 

 

I translated this article from Šport.sk

 

[Federer91 2,797]

I like how in ice hockey the qualified teams are known 3 years in advance, while the qualification starts 6 years in advance.   Meanwhile for the Summer Games we don't know the final lists until probably a month and a half before the Games start. 

 

In any normal system, these quotas should have been given at the 2025 ice hockey championships, with the final OQT being run in September of that year. But guess the IIHF wants to get it done, because let's be frank it will be the same 10 teams regardless of when they would be held. 

[hckošice 14,834]

IIHF Men´s World Ranking 2023 is released. https://www.iihf.com/en/worldranking

 

So

 

Variant A  ( & Eligible)

 

Directly qualified for Milano/Cortina 2026

 

  and host quota

 

Final Olympic Qualifying Tournaments:

 

in Slovakia:

 

+ lowest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

 

in Latvia

 

+ second highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

 

in Denmark

 

+ highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

 

 

Round 2

 

in Hungary  + second highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

in Great Britain + highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

in South Korea

 

Round 1

 

in Netherlands + second highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

in Serbia + highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

 

Pre-qualification Round

 

depend on team which want to enter, usually there a lot of withdrawals, so we often have also teams from the last ranking positions playing here, should be 2 tournaments played already this fall

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Variant B  ( & Banned)

 

Directly qualified for Milano/Cortina 2026

 

and host quota

 

Final Olympic Qualifying Tournaments:

 

in Latvia:

 

+ lowest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

 

in Denmark

 

+ second highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

 

in Norway

 

+ highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

 

 

Round 2

 

in South Korea  + second highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

in Poland + highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

in Romania

 

Round 1

 

in Croatia + second highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

in Spain + highest WR23 seeded qualified from previous round

 

Pre-qualification Round

 

depend on team which want to enter, usually there a lot of withdrawals, so we often have also teams from the last ranking positions playing here, should be 2 tournaments played already this fall

 

 

[NearPup 3,051]

So… news from the EB. Some Milan 2026 events got changed at the request of the FIS.

 

• Cross Country Skiing: all men’s and women’s events contested over the same distance
• Alpine Skiing: the combined is now a team event (one downhiller and one slalom specialist)
• Nordic Combined: the team event is replaced by the team sprint (LH/2x7.5km)
• Ski Jumping: the men’s team event is replaced by the so-called super team event with two athletes per team.

 

I hate the new ski jumping team event format. IMO the worst change the IOC has made to the Winter Olympics since I started following.

[NearPup 3,051]