The 2026 Winter Olympics have opened in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo with competition already reshaping the early medal picture. As the first full day of events unfolds, fans are tracking every run, jump, and routine in real time while juggling time zones and streaming options.
I am following the live feeds, early podiums, and broadcast details to help you keep pace with the action, from the first gold medals to the latest twists in curling, luge, ski jumping, and figure skating.
Day 1 on the ice and snow: medals, shocks and early storylines
The first full day of competition has delivered exactly what an Olympic opening weekend should: medals on the line almost immediately and pressure on athletes who barely had time to savor the cauldron lighting. Just hours after the Opening Ceremony, the first gold medals of the Milan Cortina Olympics were awarded, with organizers highlighting that the initial titles would be settled in events like biathlon, ski jumping, and speed skating as part of the early program that put hardware at stake before many fans had even adjusted their viewing schedules, a pace captured in the official rundown of What to Know for Day 1. Live blogs have framed the moment as a sprint from ceremony to competition, with Live Updates Day 1 of the Winter Olympics emphasizing that Curling, skiing and more were already underway while the Olympic flame was still a fresh sight in Milan Cortina.
Sliding and jumping events have quickly become focal points. Luge and ski jumping begin in earnest Saturday morning, with the Men’s luge singles competition scheduled to start at 11 a.m. ET with Run 1, a timing and format laid out in the detailed schedule of Luge and ski jumping coverage that underscores how compressed the first weekend is for sliding athletes. At the same time, live text coverage has zeroed in on team sports and marquee names, with one rolling report noting that the U.S. lost its first curling match while figure skating star Ilia Malinin was preparing to skate for a crucial early result, a narrative captured in the LIVE coverage that also tracks women’s hockey games such as the United States against Finland.
Inside the live blogs: how to follow every run in real time
For fans who want more than a highlight reel, the most useful tools right now are the live blogs that stitch together results, quotes, and context from venues spread across northern Italy. The official Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 hub is running a comprehensive Milano Cortina Liveblog that invites readers to Follow along with the official Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina coverage, promising updates, behind the scenes notes, and reactions straight from the competition, all centralized on the Milano Cortina Liveblog page. That official feed complements a broader live updates stream that aggregates breaking news, schedule changes, and medal alerts across sports, which is accessible through the main live updates portal for Milano Cortina 2026.
Independent outlets are layering their own reporting and analysis on top of the official timing and scoring. One major live blog focused on the Winter Olympics is packaging rolling text, embedded video, and instant reaction into a single stream that tracks everything from Ilia Malinin’s jumps to the U.S. curling team’s early struggles, with the evolving picture of the Games captured in its dedicated Winter Olympics live updates page. Another real time feed is organizing its coverage under a banner of Live Updates Day 1 of the Winter Olympics, highlighting Curling, skiing and more as the first gold medal of the Milan Cortina program is decided and using a constantly refreshed Live Updates format to keep readers on top of results and medal tables.
How to watch from home: TV, streaming and Peacock extras
For viewers outside Italy, the biggest practical question is how to actually see the action as it happens. Organizers and broadcasters have laid out a multi-platform plan that leans heavily on streaming while preserving traditional television coverage. One key guide spells out that fans can Watch on TV on NBC, USA, Network and CNBC or stream on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC App or the NBC Sports App, a distribution map that makes it clear that cable, broadcast, and digital platforms are all in play through a single Watch and stream guide. Another overview emphasizes that NBC and Peacock will be NBCUniversal’s primary platforms for its 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics coverage, underscoring that those two outlets sit at the center of the broadcast strategy for the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Streaming, in particular, is being positioned as the most comprehensive way to follow every sport. One schedule explainer notes that Peacock will stream every sport and all 116 medal events throughout the Games, a commitment that means subscribers can jump from alpine skiing to short track without leaving the platform while tracking all 116 m medal finals across the Games. A separate breakdown of NBCUniversal’s digital strategy adds that Peacock offers live streaming coverage of all Sports and events, all NBC programming, full-event replays, a gold Zone, Multiview, clips and more, turning the service into a kind of control room for fans who want to monitor multiple competitions at once through features like the interactive Peacock Zone and Multiview. For those who prefer a more curated front door, a dedicated Olympics hub on Peacock organizes live events, replays, and highlights into a single interface.
Opening Ceremony scenes and the atmosphere in Milan
The tone for these Games was set the night before competition began, when athletes from around the world marched into a stadium in Milan to open the Winter Olympics. Reporting from the ceremony highlighted that Rachel G Bowers Nancy Armour Cydney Henderson Jordan Mendoza were among those chronicling the spectacle for USA TODAY, describing how the twin cauldrons and a packed crowd welcomed delegations from 90 countries around the world, a sense of scale and pageantry captured in the detailed USA TODAY account. The ceremony also served as a visual introduction to the dual host concept, with Milan representing the urban, fashion-forward side of Italy and Cortina d’Ampezzo symbolizing the alpine tradition that will frame many of the snow events.
That atmosphere carries into the live coverage now that competition is underway. The official Milano Cortina 2026 live hub encourages fans to Follow the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina through rolling text, photos, and video clips that capture not just results but also crowd reactions and athlete celebrations, all centralized on the Follow page for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina. That blend of official storytelling and independent reporting helps viewers at home feel closer to venues scattered across Lombardy and the Dolomites, even if they are watching from a living room thousands of miles away.
Tracking the medal race and key early battles
As the first medals are awarded, attention is already turning to the broader race for national supremacy. One dedicated portal run by Nine’s Wide World of Sports brings you the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 Medal Tally, listing gold medals, silver medals and bronze medals for each country and event in a constantly updated Medal Tally. That scoreboard will become more meaningful as the days pass, but even on Day 1 it offers a snapshot of which delegations have capitalized on early opportunities in sports like biathlon, ski jumping, and speed skating.
Within individual sports, the storylines are already sharp. Curling has produced an immediate jolt, with one live blog noting that the U.S. loses its first curling match in Milan, a setback that puts pressure on the remaining round-robin games and is chronicled in the rolling Winter Olympics 2026 live updates. At the same time, figure skating fans are fixated on Ilia Malinin, whose planned programs and jump content are being tracked in another comprehensive LIVE blog that treats his performances as a bellwether for the U.S. medal hopes on the ice.
