INTERNATIONAL: The Olympic flag has landed at Milan's Malpensa airport on Monday ,February 21, with the attention switched to northern Italy, set to host the games for a second time in 20 years after Torino 2006.

Giuseppe Sala and Gianpietro Ghedina, mayors of the cities that will host the 2026 Winter Games have waved the flags at the airport, followed by Italian athletes Arianna Fontana, Federica Brignone, Amos Mosaner and Francesca Lollobrigida.

"The 2026 Olympics in Milan and Cortina is a dream, a great dream", said 500 metres speed skating gold medallist, Arianna Fontana.

"At the Olympics in Milan-Cortina 2026 we will compete at home and it will be an honour for us to represent Italy in this great adventure", curling mixed doubles gold medal winner at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, Amos Mosaner, has added.

Covid has wreaked havoc with the last two Olympics ,Tokyo 2020 was delayed for a year and went ahead behind closed doors, while Beijing 2022 has had limited fans and been delivered thanks to a tightly closed loop which has meant athletes and media have had no interaction with anyone living in China apart from support staff.

Milan-Cortina will be a two-centre Games, with ice sports taking place in Milan, and alpine activities in the mountains of Cortina, which is around five hours away by road.