The countdown is not yet imposing any urgency. A little over 500 days before the start of the Olympic Games (D – 504), around thirty more before the opening of the Paralympics (D – 532). But the Italian organizers of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games checked off a box marked with a thick line on their roadmap on Thursday, September 19.
This time, their news does not concern the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track, the endless soap opera that has caused the IOC to become increasingly tense. It is much more positive, since it is dedicated to the volunteers’ programme.
The Milan-Cortina 2026 team, led by its president Giovanni Malago, officially launched it on the evening of Thursday, September 19. With an ambassador and a first prestigious elected official: Jannik Sinner.
As announced the day before by the press agency ANSAthe world number 1 tennis player, was chosen as ambassador for a volunteer recruitment program whose slogan, also unveiled Thursday evening, speaks volumes about its importance: ” We are the Games ». In English, ” We are the Games ». In Italian, ” The games we share with you.
Like the Paris 2024 COJO, where the presidency of the athletes’ commission was entrusted to a winter sports representative, the former biathlete Martin Fourcade, Milan-Cortina 2026 also wants to ” break the codes »The Italians have chosen a tennis player as both ambassador and first volunteer.
But Jannik Sinner explains in a long letter to Team26 – the name given to the future team of volunteers – published on Thursday: his childhood was long rocked by his passion for alpine skiing. Winter sports hold a special place in my heart: I learned to ski as a child, and since then, the snow and ice, the adrenaline of the descents and the charm of the mountains have accompanied me every winter.”he says.
At the age of eight, the native of San Candido, a large village in the Dolomites, won the national giant slalom title in his age category. Five years later, he decided to devote himself full-time to tennis. His parents, Hanspeter and Siglinde Sinner, ran a mountain hut in Val Fiscalina, in South Tyrol, for about twenty years.
With Jannik Sinner as the bridgehead, the organising committee should not miss its target. Milan-Cortina 2026 has set the number of volunteers needed for the successful staging of the Olympic and Paralympic Games at 18,000.
To apply, you must be at least 18 years old as of November 1, 2025, have knowledge of Italian or English, and be prepared to commit to at least nine non-consecutive days during the Games.
” The Team26 program is open to all residents or foreigners willing to cover their own travel, visa and accommodation costs »says the Italian team. Classic.
The selection process is also very traditional. It will begin in the fall of 2024, with responses expected in the spring of 2025. The training phase will take place during the summer of 2025, in person or online.
With the launch of its volunteer programme, Milan-Cortina 2026 is stepping up the pace. It was about time. The rest promises to be relentless. Ticket sales should start by the end of the year, with a first phase in B2B.
On 6 February 2025, the Italians will mark the symbolic date of D-1 year before the opening of the Olympic Games with a series of activities in Milan and in the host cities of the events. The torch journey will begin in mid-April, simultaneously in Milan and Osaka, on the first day of the 2025 World Expo in Japan.
