2026 Winter Olympics has fake snow shortage, organisers must hurry: ski chief
Italy government has not released funding, skiing boss says as he calls situation ‘unexplainable’ with less than 50 days until Games
Organisers of February’s Winter Olympics in Italy have been urged to speed up by the international ski chief after delays at the skiing and snowboarding venues, with concerns over the production of fake snow.
With less than 50 days to go before the start of the Games in Milan-Cortina from February 6 to 22, International Ski Federation (FIS) president Johan Eliasch told journalists in Val d’Isere on Saturday that “not everything is ready”.
“The Italian government and the regions that organise the Games, they have a lot of work to do and they need to speed things up,” he said.
The main cause for concern is the Livigno site hosting the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events.
On Tuesday, the organising committee acknowledged “a technical problem” over artificial snow at the site.
“We have calls three times a day, morning, noon and night,” Eliasch said. “And part of the issue here is snow production. They’ve had a number of delays, and again, it’s not for lack of trying.