Seven days.
That’s how long the wait is from now to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, which are only held every four years. This year, the games start on Feb. 6 at noon local time, and end on Feb. 22 at noon.
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When that wait comes to an end, people will be able to revel in the glorious competition of every snow- and ice-related sport under the sun — or, more accurately, the clouds.
From curling and figure skating to skiing and snowboarding, the 25th Winter Olympics depicts 16 different sport disciplines and 116 medal events. The games will be hosted all over Northern Italy, starting in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. Other events will occur in Bormio, Livigno and the Val di Fiemme cluster, with the closing ceremony being in Verona.
For most reading this, however, they’ll be streaming from the comfort of their warm home, cozied up by the fire, approximately 5,200 miles and a $400 flight away from Italy.
Outside of medal-competition events, people can tune into preliminary rounds or training sessions. Not all of these will be streamed, but if you looked at the schedule on the official Olympics website and maybe got confused by the open and closed dots, now you know what those are for. Some sports, such as biathlon and cross-country skiing, only have medal events to watch, while other sports, like curling and ice hockey, have very few medal events to watch, and mostly training sessions.
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The sports featured are:
* Alpine skiing
* Biathlon
* Bobsleigh
* Cross-country skiing
* Curling
* Figure skating
* Freestyle skiing
* Ice hockey
* Luge
* Nordic combined
* Short track speed skating
* Skeleton
* Ski jumping
* Ski mountaineering
* Snowboard
* Speed skating
The competition includes around 2,900 athletes from more than 90 nations. These athletes train year-round at specialized high-altitude and cold-weather facilities, primarily the U.S. Olympics and Paralympic Training Centers (USOPC) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Lake Placid, New York. However, Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Utah, is another popular place for people to train year-round; this is where I had the personal pleasure of trying out their Summer Bobsled Experience back in July, which was equal parts thrilling, expensive and horrifying.
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The Olympics will be available to stream live and on-demand daily on Peacock (both Premium and Premium Plus), which is the main hub for every event. However, you can also stream NBC’s coverage on YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and DIRECTV. The NBC Olympics website or the NBC app will also allow users to log in with a cable provider to watch live coverage, or, there will be free, select content that people can view on NBCOlympics.com.
If you miss the opening ceremony live at noon Feb. 6, you can rewatch it when NBC re-airs it at 8 p.m. The major events will air on the NBC cable channel between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time, with a three-hour “Primetime in Milan” broadcast each evening, preempting all other shows.
