With the Winter Olympics of Milan-Cortina 2026 starting in only a few days, back in Europe for the first time since Sochi 2014, we have explored how much Eurovision we could hear or watch during the upcoming Games.
Eurovision/Sanremo royalty at the Opening Ceremony
Although events will start as early as 4 February (with the first session of Mixed Doubles in Curling, in Cortina), the opening ceremony itself will take place in Milan on 6 February, next Friday, at the San Siro football stadium.
Several artists and performers have already been confirmed for the ceremony, including Laura Pausini, who won Sanremo in 1993 and co-hosted Eurovision in Turin four years ago, a few months after the previous edition of the Winter Games. The Organising Committee also revealed that rapper Ghali will perform too: he finished fourth in Sanremo 2024, with “Casa Mia”.
Another Sanremo 2024 alumnus will also be present, although maybe not physically: Dardust. As we reporter earlier, he is the composer of “Italian Fantasia”, the official soundtrack of the Games, which will likely be played during the ceremony and during events throughout the two weeks. Dardust co-wrote “Soldi” (Italy 2019) and “La Noia” (Italy 2024) and performed as an interval act in Turin back in 2022.
Very little details have been revealed about the Closing Ceremony, which will be held at the Arena di Verona, the ancient Roman amphitheatre of Verona. It is possible that Eurovision alumni will perform there, as closing ceremonies have a less solemn and more festive vibe than the opening ones. Another name you may know will perform at the Closing Ceremony of the Winter Paralympics, though : Arisa. Before that, she would have already taken part in the 2026 edition of the Sanremo Festival, due to be held between the Olympics and the Paralympics.
From Domenico Modugno to Sam Ryder in figure skating
Although we may hear some Eurovision or Sanremo hits played during events by the individual DJs of each venue, one particular discipline always puts music at the forefront: figure skating, where skaters perform programs of jumps, spins and steps or choreographic sequences to a music of their choice. Two years ago, the same was true in rythmic gymnastics.
One Eurovision song that appeared in quite a few programs recently was “Voilà” by Barbara Pravi (France 2021), but it appears no athlete will perform with it in Milan.
One song that should appear, however, is a much older tune from the Contest: “Nel blu dipinto di blu”, more often called “Volare“, by Domenico Modugno, Italy’s entry in 1958. The Italian pair of Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini will skate their short program to a cover of a song by another Italian alumnus: the trio Il Volo, from 2015.
From what we could gather, this is the only actual Eurovision song used by performers for their competitive programs. But other skaters use non-Eurovision song from Eurovision artists, such as China’s Boyang Jin, who will perform his short program to “Fought & Lost” by Sam Ryder, featuring Brian May.
You could also hear Il Volo if Fedirs Kuliss qualifies in the top 20 positions to perform his free program: the 20-year-old Ukrainian represented his birth country until the 2022 Russian invasion, when he found a new home in Latvia, having gained the nationality last year. One of two skaters from the Baltic country, he performs his free program on a medley of Il Volo’s “Quando l’amore diventa poesia” and “L’immensità”.
And going into the very limit of what one could consider “Eurovision-adjacent”, French ice dancers Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Bissaud begin their rythm dance on “I’m Blue” by Eiffel 65, the group Gabry Ponte (San Marino 2025) was a part of.
Short program, rythm dance… what does that mean?
A short explanation for the many readers who may not be familiar with figure skating terms.
At the Olympics, there are basically two disciplines in figure skating: skating, and ice dancing. Skating has three events (men’s singles, women’s singles, and pairs), and ice dancing only one (with mixed duos of dancers, with the expression “pairs” only used for the skating and not the dancing). But in each event, competitors compete with two programs : a short program (or “rythm dance” in ice dancing) and a free program (“free dance”).
In all disciplines, the short program is shorter than the free one, with less elements to perform, but with less freedom too: skaters must do certain jumps or sequences, although the order is not imposed. Free programs are longer and although there are rules about things to do or to avoid, skaters are given much more leeway and liberty to experiment with rythms, elements, music, etc.
In the Olympics, the lowest-graded skaters will be eliminated after the short program, meaning that we will not be able to see everybody perform their free program.
Where can I watch these events?
This will all depend on the negotiated broadcasting rights in your area.
In Europe, the EBU has negotiated rights but your EBU broadcaster may not have them for all the events. Those who do should have every event available on stream. Those who do not (like France Télévisions) will broadcast as much as they can on their digital and TV platforms, but the rest will only be available on the HBO Max streaming platform, which requires a subscription.
In Australia, Channel Nine and the Nine Network have the broadcasting rights for 2026 and for every edition until Brisbane 2032.
Fore more details, you can find the rights holder and broadcasters for every territory here. In any case, the opening and closing ceremonies should be available on free-to-air television.
Will you be watching any event? Who would you like to see perform at the closing ceremony? Which Eurovision or national final song would you love to see in figure skating? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media!
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