Winter Olympics opening ceremony nears as virus disrupts ice hockey

AFP | Milan

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Preparations for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics ratcheted up yesterday on the eve of the opening ceremony while the start of the ice hockey was hit by an outbreak of norovirus.

The most geographically dispersed Games in history officially start with a ceremony in the San Siro stadium in Milan on Friday that will also take in the three other sites spread across the Dolomites.

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Milan to attend the ceremony, which will feature performances by singer Mariah Carey and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

The first day of the ice hockey competition suffered a setback when a women's game between defending champions Canada and Finland had to be postponed after Finnish players fell ill with norovirus.

"The decision was taken following consultations with medical professionals after cases of norovirus were identified within Team Finland," the Milano Cortina 2026 Organising Committee said in a statement.

According to Italian media four Finnish players have contracted the highly contagious virus, a form of gastroenteritis, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea.

The game has been postponed until February 12, but other women's games did go ahead.

Meanwhile, the men's downhill skiers got a second taste of the fearsome Stelvio piste in Bormio, where they will do battle for gold on Saturday in the first major competitive highlight of the Games.

The biggest star of these Olympics, American skier Lindsey Vonn, has to wait to test her injured leg after the first women's downhill training in the chic resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo was cancelled due to heavy snow.

Vonn's Olympic comeback at the age of 41 depends on her being able to ski with a ruptured ACL (anterior cruciate ligament).