Winter Olympics 2026: Your Ultimate Viewing Guide to Every Event
The 2026 Winter Olympics have officially commenced, with the Italian cities of Milano and Cortina hosting the prestigious global festival of snow and ice sports. Following the previous Games in Beijing, where Norway led the medal table with sixteen golds ahead of Germany, the United States, and host nation China, Team GB secured just two medals—both in curling during the final days. Eve Muirhead captained the women's team to a gold medal victory, while Bruce Mouat guided the men's team to a silver. British aspirations are significantly higher for this edition, with UK Sport establishing an ambitious target of four to eight medals. Potential success extends beyond the curling rink to various snow disciplines, including freestyle skiing, snowboarding, and ice dance.
Event Schedule and Geographical Zones
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics officially began on February 4th, featuring an opening ceremony on February 6th and concluding with a closing ceremony on February 22nd. Over nineteen action-packed days, athletes will compete in 116 medal events. The competitions are organized across four primary geographical zones:
- Milano: Hosting the ceremonies and sports such as ice hockey, speed skating, and figure skating.
- Valtellina: Featuring freestyle skiing and snowboard events among others.
- Cortina: Home to women's Alpine skiing and ice sports including curling, skeleton, and luge.
- Val di Fiemme: Where ski jumping and cross-country skiing will take place.
How to Watch Every Minute of the Action
Viewers in the United Kingdom and Ireland can access over 850 hours of comprehensive coverage across every sport, venue, and medal event through TNT Sports and the streaming service discovery+. Subscription plans start from £3.99 per month in the UK and €4.99 per month in Ireland on discovery+, which includes access to TNT Sports 2 and additional live event feeds. Live competition coverage will run daily from 9am to 10pm, preceded by an hour-long studio preview show at 8am and followed by an end-of-day round-up after the sporting action concludes.
The commentary and punditry team boasts an impressive lineup of Olympic athletes, including skeleton gold medallist Amy Williams, two-time Olympian snowboarder Aimee Fuller, alpine skiers Ed Drake and Charlie Guest, bobsleigh pilot Lamin Deen, and curling bronze medallist Vicki Chalmers.
Platform-Specific Access Details
Access to the Olympics coverage varies by platform:
- Sky TV: Available via TNT Sports on discovery+, dependent on subscription type. Sky TV customers can activate discovery+ Entertainment at no extra cost for full Olympic access.
- Virgin Media UK: Watch on TNT Sports; Virgin Media Entertainment customers have access via two linear pop-up channels.
- Virgin Media Ireland: Watch on TNT Sports.
- EE/BT: Access via TNT Sports on discovery+, dependent on subscription type.
- Amazon PVC: Accessible via any discovery+ subscription.
- Vodafone UK: Customers can access via a discovery+ Entertainment subscription.
- Roku, Samsung, Amazon Fire TV, PlayStation, Apple TV+, Google TV, Xbox: Access via any discovery+ subscription.
BBC Coverage and Additional Options
The BBC will also provide extensive coverage, offering two streams of live daytime action: between 9am and 10pm each day on BBC One and BBC Two, and an Olympics Extra live stream on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport from 8am to 11pm. In total, the BBC will broadcast 450 hours of live sport, with analysis from renowned figures such as two-time skeleton Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold, figure skating gold medallist Robin Cousins, curling gold medallist Vicky Wright, and former bobsledder Montell Douglas.
This comprehensive broadcasting arrangement ensures that fans across the UK and Ireland will not miss a moment of the thrilling Winter Olympic action, from the opening ceremony to the final medal presentations.
