At 3 a.m. on February 7, Beijing time, the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics will be held at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy. This stadium, built in 1926, celebrates its centenary and hosted the Olympic opening ceremony for the first time.
The Chinese short track speed skating team is actively preparing for the Milan Winter Olympics. Rehearsals have now entered the sprint stage, and 1,340 performers will participate in the opening ceremony. The cast and crew come from 27 countries. The youngest actor is 10 years old and the oldest is 70 years old. The cumulative rehearsal time has exceeded 700 hours. Chinese pianist Lang Lang returns to the Olympic stage for the first time in 18 years and will perform with Italian singer Andrea Bocelli and American singer Mariah Carey.
The theme of this Winter Olympics is “Harmony”, which connects this global ice and snow feast. One of the highlights of the opening ceremony is that it will be held for the first time in four places: Milan, Cortina, Livigno and Predazzo. Athletes will be dispersed in the four places to participate in the event to avoid long distance transfers. In addition, this Winter Olympics has launched a dual main torch design for the first time, and the flame will be lit simultaneously at Milan’s Porta de la Peace and Cortina di Bona Square. The torch is inspired by the geometric knot patterns of Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscripts. It is made of environmentally friendly biofuel made from recycled cooking oil. Its opening and closing structure symbolizes the flow of time.
The opening ceremony will be held at the San Siro Olympic Stadium in Milan. 2026 coincides with the 100th anniversary of the completion of this football temple. It hosted the 1934 and 1990 World Cups and witnessed the city derby between AC Milan and Inter Milan. However, after hosting the first Olympic opening ceremony, the stadium will be demolished and rebuilt after the Winter Olympics, so this “last dance” is even more meaningful.
On the afternoon of February 4, the Chinese Sports Delegation officially announced that speed skater Ning Zhongyan and short track speed skater Zhang Chutong will serve as the flag bearers of the Chinese delegation at the opening ceremony. Ning Zhongyan, as the leader in the men’s middle distance speed skating event, ranks third in the World Cup this season and is in good condition. He will compete for the men’s 1500m and 1000m medals in Milan. Zhang Chutong, who is about to celebrate his 23rd birthday during the Winter Olympics, has emerged in the short track speed skating arena and holds the Winter Olympics women’s relay bronze medal.
At this Winter Olympics, the Chinese sports delegation consists of 286 people, including 125 athletes, including 57 male athletes and 68 female athletes. They will compete in 7 major events, 15 sub-events, and 91 minor events. It is the one with the most overseas participating events and the largest scale of athletes. The Chinese delegation has the potential to win gold medals in short track speed skating, freestyle skiing, snowboarding and other categories. In the preliminaries of the men’s snowboarding platform held in the early morning of the 6th, Beijing time, Su Yiming, the defending champion of this event at the Winter Olympics, has successfully advanced to the finals in the early morning of the 8th.
Despite being plagued by injuries over the past year, defending champion Gu Ailing remains in good shape. She admitted in an interview: “2025 will be the most serious year for my injuries, but I am still quite confident.”
