Winter Olympics, Sergio Mattarella expected in Milan
The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, will speak on Monday, Feb. 2, in Milan at the opening of the 145th Session of the International Olympic Committee scheduled to be held at La Scala Theater at 7 p.m. Coni reports. Shortly before, the Head of State will meet with IOC members in the Sala Alessi of Palazzo Marino in a traditional welcoming ceremony. The Head of State will then return to Milan in the late morning of Thursday 5 and travel to the Olympic Village where he will be welcomed by Coni President Luciano Buonfiglio and Head of Mission Carlo Mornati.
Mattarella, who will be accompanied by his daughter, Laura, will first affix his signature to the Olympic Truce Mural and then address a greeting to the Italian Delegation in the Chefs de Mission Meeting Room. Afterwards, after visiting the building where the Italian Team is staying, he will stay for breakfast with the Italian athletes at the Olympic Village canteen.
In the evening, the President of the Republic will attend the Dinner for Heads of State hosted by IOC President Kirsty Coventry and held at the Fabbrica del Vapore.
Friday morning, Feb. 6, President Mattarella, again accompanied by Mrs. Laura, will attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the inauguration of Casa Italia at the Triennale, where he will then visit the “Muse” exhibition specially set up by CONI, also in collaboration with the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.
Fin the evening, Mattarella will be at the Meazza Stadium where he will represent the Italian State at the opening ceremony of the XXV edition of the Winter Olympic Games and, like his predecessors Giovanni Gronchi (in 1956 in Cortina and 1960 in Rome) and Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (in 2006 in Turin), will declare open the Milan Cortina 2026 Games.
The components of the Italian national alpine ski team for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games are officially defined. In fact, Fisi on Monday announced the names of the twenty-one summoned athletes who will represent Italy in the five-circle event at home. The selection combines experience and talent, but also focuses on younger faces: the goal is clear, to be protagonists on the Stelvio slopes of Bormio and at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, venues designated by the organizing committee.
The women’s group is made up of eleven athletes: the name of Federica Brignone, who performed a true sports miracle by returning in time for the Olympics after a very serious injury last spring, stands out, and there will also be Sofia Goggia, who wants to further improve her Olympic record. The other athletes are Elena Curtoni, Giada D’Antonio, Nadia and Nicol Delago, Lara Della Mea, Martina Peterlini, Laura Pirovano, Anna Trocker and Asja Zenere. For the very young D’Antonio (class of 2009) and Trocker (2008) it will be their first experience at the Games.
The men’s sector, on the other hand, has ten summonses: there will be Giovanni Franzoni, recent winner in Kitzbühel on the legendary Streif slope, along with Mattia Casse, Luca De Aliprandini, Christof Innerhofer, Tobias Kastlunger, Dominik Paris, Tommaso Saccardi, Tommaso Sala, Florian Schieder and Alex Vinatzer. Franzoni and Paris will be the references in the fast trials, while De Aliprandini and Vinatzer will lead the pack in the special slalom and giant slalom, aiming to surprise the competition and overturn more than one prediction.
