The Santa Giulia hockey arena, where matches of the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy are to be held, will be completed before the start of the competition, said Christophe Dubi, executive director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Earlier in January, a test match at the arena was stopped due to serious problems with the ice. The meeting, in which the Kaltern and Varese teams took part, had to be interrupted when a hole appeared in the ice. The arena staff doused her with water.

— Is there anything to work on? Yes, a lot. I’m not a construction expert, but this is not a difficult job, so everything regarding the systems, especially cooling, power supply, timing, scoring, is all in order. Cameras, I saw them. We have excellent lighting. There are still a lot of finishing touches left, right?

Some preparatory work is needed. They employ a lot of people. Everything will be ready, no doubt. Half of the locker rooms are ready, the other half will be completed in the coming days. When the competition starts, everything will be fine, no problem.

I take my hat off to everyone who was able to create such an object in such a short time. As you know, this has always been a difficult project. It started late, but this is where we talk about the goals of creating the best conditions for the Games for athletes. This means everything is assembled. 1,600 workers a day work at the site to prepare it. We held a test event, which the NHL also liked in terms of ice quality, which is a priority for us. As for everything else, we’ll go there on Friday. We will be ready to host the best athletes,” Dubey said while talking to reporters.

The women’s Olympic hockey tournament starts on February 5, the men’s on February 11.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) expects about 2,900 athletes to take part in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, IOC head Kirsty Coventry said.

— We are expecting about 2,900 athletes from more than 90 national Olympic committees. “This will be the most gender-balanced Olympics,” Coventry said during a conversation with reporters.

The 2026 Olympic Games will be held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo from February 6 to 22. Russian athletes will perform at the Olympics in a neutral status.

Russian skiers Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva, as well as speed skaters Ksenia Korzhova and Anastasia Semenova, received invitations from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to participate in the 2026 Olympics in Italy, the organization’s press service reports.

The Olympic Games will take place from 6 to 22 February in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Earlier, invitations from the IOC were accepted by Russian figure skaters Pyotr Gumennik and Adelia Petrosyan, ski mountaineer Nikita Filippov and short track skaters Ivan Posashkov and Alena Krylova.