Behind the Scenes at Milano Cortina

Irina Gladkikh is the Associate Director for Winter Sports at the International Olympic Committee, coordinating with the Organising Committee and sports federations to ensure every element of the competitions at Milano Cortina 2026 is considered – from perfectly carved slopes and smooth ice to equipment delivered on time. In short, she’s a winter-sports encyclopedia, making sure events run safely and that the integrity of competition is always protected. 

What are some of the key differences in working with winter sports as opposed to summer sports? While the Olympic Winter Games are much smaller in terms of scale, we are much more complicated in terms of field of play preparation. Firstly, we need hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of snow, so preparations start much earlier. Snow is also a complicated material, and all venues are unique, so we need to ensure that athletes are familiar with the field of play. Add to that the fact that we use a lot of vertical transport, gondolas and ski lifts, which take time, and the operation is even more tricky. Even in ice sports, where the field of play is a little more standard, maintaining ice is both a science and an art.

Give us a sense of the kind of people working backstage to make it all possible? There are close to a thousand people working in Milano Cortina 2026, and highly skilled people. To maintain these venues, we need skiers who are able to ski an Olympic course, which is super challenging. We need camera operators who can work on skis or skates. All these people need to be housed, fed and ready to perform at their best.

What makes Milano Cortina 2026 special? For the first time, we’re running the Olympic Games across such a spread-out environment, making use of existing venues and teams wherever possible. That brings confidence, as most of the staff have many years of experience delivering World Cups and World Championships and know how to handle local weather conditions. Italy is also a very sporty country; people are passionate, and it’s really fun to work with them.

What are some of the key differences in working with winter sports as opposed to summer sports? While the Olympic Winter Games are much smaller in terms of scale, we are much more complicated in terms of field of play preparation. Firstly, we need hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of snow, so preparations start much earlier. Snow is also a complicated material, and all venues are unique, so we need to ensure that athletes are familiar with the field of play. Add to that the fact that we use a lot of vertical transport, gondolas and ski lifts, which take time, and the operation is even more tricky. Even in ice sports, where the field of play is a little more standard, maintaining ice is both a science and an art.

Give us a sense of the kind of people working backstage to make it all possible? There are close to a thousand people working in Milano Cortina 2026, and highly skilled people. To maintain these venues, we need skiers who are able to ski an Olympic course, which is super challenging. We need camera operators who can work on skis or skates. All these people need to be housed, fed and ready to perform at their best.

What makes Milano Cortina 2026 special? For the first time, we’re running the Olympic Games across such a spread-out environment, making use of existing venues and teams wherever possible. That brings confidence, as most of the staff have many years of experience delivering World Cups and World Championships and know how to handle local weather conditions. Italy is also a very sporty country; people are passionate, and it’s really fun to work with them.

Biathlon grew out of the snowy forests of Scandinavia, where hunters once travelled on skis with rifles slung across their backs. Today, the sport still balances these two, in some ways opposing, skills: the endurance of cross-country skiing, where an athlete’s heart rate can surge to around 180 beats per minute, and the precision of shooting, which demands the rapid calming of body and breath. Equipment plays a crucial role: biathlon rifles must be light to be carried over long distances, but that means compromises are made compared to pure target-shooting weapons. While specialised manufacturers produce the rifle mechanisms, the stocks – the non-firearm component – are often customised and shaped to the athlete’s bodies. At Milano Cortina 2026, biathlon returns to its spiritual home in Anterselva/Antholz, widely considered the mecca of the sport. Rudolf Bachmann is a local luthier-turned-stock-maker who has been shaping the sport for more than three decades from his workshop just 10km from the biathlon venue. His story began serendipitously when, in 1993, whilst watching a junior competition, an athlete broke his wooden rifle, and Bachmann offered to take it back to his guitar workshop and get it fixed. The act pivoted his skillset and spurred a whole new business. Wood gave way to carbon fibre, and today he creates highly customisable one-of-a-kind biathlon stocks from Antholz, many of which are used by athletes in Milano Cortina 2026.