MUMBAI, India (AP) – A big-ticket project for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics has been dropped because the Italian government no longer wants to help fund it, organising committee officials said Monday.
Bobsled, luge and skeleton events now need to be held outside Italy, likely either at the sliding track in Igls, Austria or St Moritz, Switzerland.
The historic Eugenio Monti track at Cortina d’Ampezzo – built 100 years ago, used for the 1956 Winter Games, and shut down 15 years ago – was planned to be rebuilt but expected costs spiralled from the original EUR50 million estimate.
“Recent years’ dramatic international scenario has forced a reflection on the resources regionally allocated by the Italian government as investment for this specific venue,” organising committee leader Giovanni Malago said at the International Olympic Committee’s annual meeting being held in Mumbai, India.
“This venue has been at the centre of a long and controversial process,” Malago acknowledged, after a tender for the work produced no viable contractor.
The IOC had long been skeptical about the Cortina sliding track project and urges Olympic hosts to avoid building venues which do not fulfil a proven need for local communities.
Using venues outside a host country is now encouraged to limit costs for Olympic organizers who typically overspend budgets.
Malago said Milan-Cortina officials will decide which sliding track to use after consulting with the IOC.
Milan-Cortina won hosting rights in 2019, beating a Swedish bid centred on Stockholm that planned to use a sliding track in Latvia.
