Norway Leads Medal Table as Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics Close in Verona
Olympic flag passes to France after 17 days of competition across northern Italy
The curtain came down on the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday night, with the ancient Verona Arena serving as the stage for a ceremony that blended classical opera with modern spectacle.
As twin Olympic flames in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo were extinguished via live link, International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry formally declared the 2026 Games closed. She told organizers they had delivered “a new kind of winter games” and set a high benchmark for future hosts.
The Olympic flag was then handed over to representatives of France, which will stage the 2030 Winter Games. Following a similar multi-location format, events are planned across the French Alps and in Nice, while speed skating is expected to be held either in Italy or the Netherlands.
Over 17 days of competition, athletes contested 116 medal events across eight sports and 16 disciplines. This edition also marked the Olympic debut of ski mountaineering. The final medals of the Games — in the 50-kilometre mass start cross-country races for men and women — were awarded inside the Arena just hours before the closing ceremony began.
The ceremony itself paid tribute to Italian artistic heritage. It opened with a celebration of lyric opera, with performers representing characters from classic works appearing on stage as 17th-century musicians played selections including “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” from La Traviata. Opera figures such as Madama Butterfly and Aida emerged from mirrored crates in a theatrical nod to the Arena’s long-standing summer opera festival.
Later, acclaimed ballet dancer Roberto Bolle performed an aerial routine inside a ring symbolizing the sun before descending to a stage designed to resemble the Venetian lagoon. Italian singer Achille Lauro delivered the ceremony’s closing musical performance with the song “Incoscienti Giovani.” A light show replaced fireworks, which are not permitted in Verona to avoid disturbing animals.
On the sporting front, Norway topped the medal table with 41 medals: 18 gold, 12 silver, and 11 bronze. It marked the country’s 11th overall Winter Olympic medal-table victory and its fourth consecutive win.
The United States finished second with 33 medals, including 12 gold. American teams secured titles in both the men’s and women’s ice hockey tournaments. The Netherlands placed third with 20 medals, all earned in speed skating and short track events.
Host nation Italy recorded its strongest-ever Winter Olympic performance, collecting 30 medals — 10 gold, six silver, and 14 bronze — surpassing its previous best of 20 medals set at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.
Rounding out the top six were Germany with 26 medals and France with 23. In total, 29 countries reached the medal standings during the Games.
Attention will now shift to the Milan-Cortina Paralympics, which are scheduled to open on March 6, also at the Verona Arena, and will run through March 15.
With the flames extinguished and the flag passed on, the 2026 Winter Games close as both a logistical experiment — spanning multiple cities — and a sporting milestone. The countdown to the French Alps has officially begun.