The China Mail - Milan-Cortina chief admits venue time pinch as Olympic torch relay begins

Speaking to reporters at a ceremony for the start of the relay in the Italian capital, Andrea Varnier said: "there is a lot of finishing to do around the venues.

"But it's normal, that's what we were expecting," he added.

"With the relay starting, it's a lot of emotions that gives us the right energy to go on for the next 60 days, because there's still a lot of work to do in Milan and in the mountains."

The main concern for the Winter Olympics, which will run over February 6-22 in a vast portion of northern Italy, is the Santa Giulia arena on the outskirts of Milan which is still a building site.

That arena is scheduled to host the bulk of the ice hockey tournament, during which stars of the world's biggest ice hockey League, the NHL, will return to the Games after a 12-year absence.

Organisers confirmed on Wednesday that a key test event for the arena will be held on January 9-11, with seven club matches being played on the rink over those three days.

"We knew about the delays of the hockey arena, and we are working with it, but now we are following the right pace, I believe it will be a beautiful, beautiful set for the hockey tournament," added Varnier.

"It has to be ready."

According to the latest figures released by Milano-Cortina 2026, 850,000 of the 1.4 million tickets that will be available for these Olympic Games have been sold.

"Ticket sales are going well, we are freeing lots of tickets every couple of weeks, and we see there is a very good reaction every time we do that, so we are happy," said Varnier.

- Torch relay begins -

Swimmer Gregorio Paltrinieri, a gold winner at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, became the first of the 10,001 torchbearers who will carry the flame towards its final destination of the opening ceremony at the San Siro stadium in Milan on February 6.

Paltrinieri set off from the Stadio dei Marmi, at the foot of Rome's Olympic Stadium, and jogged 200 metres before handing the torch over to former fencer Elisa Di Francisca, who then passed it to Gianmarco Tamberi.

Tamberi became one of the most popular figures of Italian sport after winning high jump gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

On Saturday the torch will pass by the Italian capital's most famous sites: St. Peter's Square, the Pantheon, the ancient Imperial Forum and the Colosseum before finishing its Rome leg in the early evening at Piazza del Popolo.

The Olympic torch will be carried 12,000 kilometres through 300 cities by athletes, artists, and members of the public over 63 days before arriving in Milan on February 5 ahead of the opening ceremony.

Next year's Games will be held over an huge area spanning the country's economic capital Milan in the north-west to Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Dolomite mountains, not far from the border with Austria.

The event is expected to mark a turning point in Winter Olympic history by making extensive use of existing facilities to limit costs and temper the impact on the environment.

G.Tsang--ThChM