The next Winter Games will be held in France, which received the Olympic flag in the official handover in the closing ceremony.
The Milan Cortina Olympics ended Sunday as the twin flames in co-host cities Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were extinguished during a closing ceremony inside the ancient Verona Arena.
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In declaring the 2026 Games over, International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry told local organisers that they “delivered a new kind of winter games and you set a new, very high standard for the future.”
The next Winter Games will be held in neighbouring France, which received the Olympic flag in the official handover earlier in the ceremony.
Following the same spread-out model, the 2030 Winter Games will stage events in the Alps and Nice, on the Mediterranean Sea, while speedskating will be held either in Italy or the Netherlands.
A total of 116 medal events were held in eight Olympic sports across 16 disciplines, including the debut of ski mountaineering this year, over the course of 17 days of competition. With the final events wrapping up just hours before the ceremony, the 50-kilometre mass start men's and women's cross country medals were awarded by Coventry inside the Arena.
Closing ceremony pays tribute to Italian cultural icons
The closing ceremony paid tribute to Italian dance and music — from lyric opera to Italian pop of the 20th century to the DJ beat of Gabry Ponte, who got the 1,500 athletes on their feet and dancing while colour confetti exploded on stage.
Italian Achille Lauro delivered the last word with the song “Incoscienti Giovani,” or reckless young people. The 2½-hour ceremony opened with a tribute to Italian lyric opera, with the stage director rousing not only the closing ceremony cast, including Achille Lauro, but also long-dormant opera characters tucked away in crates within the amphitheater's tunnels.
On stage, Madama Butterfly in a bright pink and green costume and Aida in golden tiers were unpacked from mirrored crates while 17th century musicians played the joyous “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” from La Traviata, a nod to the Arena's long history as the venue for a summer opera festival.
The opera characters, led by the jester Rigoletto, spilled out into the piazza outside, mixing with the bemused athletes who were flag-bearers for their countries, some ofwhom pulled out their phones to film.
In a later sequence, internationally acclaimed ballet dancer Roberto Bolle made his first-ever aerial performance inside a blazing ring meant to represent the sun. He was lowered to the stage that mimicked the Venetian lagoon, replete with gondolas, where he danced to a haunting song by Italian singer Joan Thiele.
In a key moment, the Olympic flame encased in a Venetian glass vessel was carried into the Arena by Italian gold medalists from the 1994 Lillehammer Games. The Olympic rings illuminated in white appeared high on the stone stairs behind the stage, flanked by national flags, when one raised the flame in the centre of the stage.
The closing ceremony concluded with the Olympic flames extinguished at the unprecedented two cauldrons in Milan and Cortina, viewed in Verona via video link. A light show substituted fireworks, which are not allowed in Verona, to protect animals from being disturbed.
Norway tops medal count, Italy fourth with best result ever
The final medals count sees the clear success of Norway, taking first place with a total of 41 medals: 18 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze. This is the 11th victory in the history of the Winter Olympics for the Norwegian delegation and the fourth in a row.
The United States came second with 33 medals (12 gold, 12 silver and 9 bronze), thanks in part to victories in the men's and women's ice hockey tournaments. Third place for the Netherlands with a total of 20 medals, with 10 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze, all won in the disciplines of speed skating and short track.
Host Italy won its highest Winter Olympic tally ever with 30 medals — 10 gold, six silver and 14 bronze, crushing the previous record of 20 set at the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994.
Completing the top six positions were Germany, fifth with 26 medals (10 gold, 6 silver and 14 bronze), and France, sixth with 23 medals (8 gold, 9 silver and 6 bronze). In total, 29 countries entered the Olympic medals count.
The Milan Cortina Paralympics' opening ceremony will also take place in the Verona Arena, on March 6, and the Games will run until March 15.