When do the 2026 Winter Olympics start and how to watch the opening ceremony on TV

Other highlights

Looking elsewhere, this edition marks the first time since Sochi 2014 that ice hockey players from the National Hockey League (NHL) will compete on the Olympic stage. Among the favourites are Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland as their teams benefit from the return of the NHL’s talent pool. 

Another star to keep an eye on is American snowboarder Chloe Kim who is going in search of a three-peat in the snowboard halfpipe. She rose to stardom in PyeongChang in 2018 when she became the youngest woman to win gold in her discipline, at just 17. She came out on top again four years later in Beijing, becoming the first woman to win two Olympic halfpipe golds. Having struggled with her mental health in the aftermath of the Games, she contemplated retiring. But rather than stepping back, she has rediscovered her motivation and passion and has set her sights on a third straight gold, something no woman has ever achieved in the event.

How to watch

The BBC does not have wall-to-wall coverage of the Games as it has done in previous years. There will be TV coverage on BBC One and BBC Two of “all major events from 9am to 10pm each day”, as well as a second stream, Olympics Extra, which will be available on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sports website and app to show “additional” events from 8am to 11pm. 

Highlights will go out across BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport social media channels as well, with BBC Sport also covering events with live text, day-by-day guides and the medal table.

TV coverage will be led by Claire Balding, Hazel Ervine and Jeannette Kwakye, while Katie Smith and Maz Farookhi will deliver daily coverage and interviews on BBC Radio 5 Live. 

The full Games will be broadcast on TNT Sport and Discovery+ in the UK for subscribers.

Are Russia and Belarus competing?

Neither Russia nor Belarus are competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics, after being banned as a result of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Athletes from both countries competed at the 2022 Games in Beijing, China, with Russian athletes competing under the Russian Olympic Committee after a state-sponsored doping scandal resulted in athletes being unable to compete under the Russian name, flag or anthem. 

Athletes from both countries will compete under the Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) banner, after a ruling by the International Skating Union in December 2024 which allowed them to participate in the Games under this condition. The delegation will not march in the parade of nations at the opening ceremony, and will not receive an official ranking in the medal tables, as occurred in the 2024 Summer Olympics. 

What happened at the last Winter Olympics? 

Norway came out on top overall in 2022, with the most gold medals (16) and the highest medal total (37). Thirty-four of their athletes finished on the podium and two of their biathlon athletes, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and Johannes Thignes Boe, set a joint-record for winning five medals each at a single Games.