Preparing for the Olympic Games is always associated with many different problems. Absolutely everyone understands this, and up to a certain point, stakeholders are tolerant of possible delays in construction and infrastructure creation. However, what happens a month and a half before the start of the Games in Milan causes not just concern, but real panic.

Hockey and skiing are now under real threat of cancellation, and this is not the bright headlines of the media, but the opinion of the heads of federations and officials.

Started with hockey

The Olympics in Italy start on February 6, 2026. On the scale of such competitions, this is the shortest possible time, during which the organizers have a lot to accomplish if, of course, they want to avoid a scandal of universal magnitude. The unpleasant situation with the hockey tournament began in mid-autumn, when everyone saw the situation with the construction of the arena. To put it mildly, the readiness of the facility was very far from one hundred percent.

In early December, National Hockey League (NHL) vice-commissioner Bill Daly could not stand it anymore. In an interview with the Daily FaceOff portal, he said that if a skating rink with North American dimensions is not completed, then the league’s hockey players will simply refuse to participate in the Olympics. It even got to the point that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had to shift the dates of test matches for the hockey arena in Italy, as stated by IOC sports director Pierre Ducray at a press conference in Lausanne.

The officials’ concerns are largely tied to the fact that for the first time since 2014, hockey players from the NHL are going to take part in the Olympic tournament. Naturally, this significantly increases his status, especially in the absence of the Russian national team. The NHL made concessions and suspended the season so that the players could fulfill their dream and represent their national teams at the Olympics. And now all efforts may be in vain.

Construction of ski facilities for the 2026 Olympics / Photo: © Mattia Ozbot / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

On the brink of disaster

But that’s not all. It turned out that the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) also has serious questions for the organizers of the 2026 Olympics. The organization’s president, Johan Elias, harshly criticized the preparation of the facility in Livigno, where freestyle and snowboarding competitions will be held.

— Nothing is ready yet. The Italian government and the regions organizing the Games still have a lot of work to do and need to speed up the process. There is a problem with the production of artificial snow. There were delays. Unfortunately, the Italian government has not allocated any funds, so (the organizers) are having a hard time making ends meet, which is a shame. It’s inexplicable. I hope everything gets better. We have plan B, plan C, plan D… But, unfortunately, we found ourselves in a situation we should never have found ourselves in,” RMC Sport quotes Elias as saying.

If they managed to bring the usually calm Swede to such a nervous state, then things are really bad. Otherwise, Eliash would not have started panicking. Thus, there are already several Olympic disciplines that are probably in danger of being cancelled. The International Biathlon Union (IBU) is also very lucky that the competition will be held on the track in Antholz, where World Cup stages are regularly held, so there is no need for special preparation of the facility.

Now, of course, the Italians have launched an anti-crisis campaign in the media, assuring that everything will definitely be ready for the start of the Olympic Games. Probably, there really is a chance for this, but questions about the quality of construction will probably remain. And if they have to be solved along the way, then all the above problems may well return with renewed vigor.