One year out from the Milan Cortina Games, Olympic chief says 'Italy is ready.' But is it?

One year out from the Milan Cortina Games, Olympic chief says ‘Italy is ready.’ But is it?

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IOC President Thomas Bach attends the ceremony ‘One Year To Go’ for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, at the Strehler Theatre, in Milan, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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IOC President Thomas Bach attends the ceremony ‘One Year To Go’ for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, at the Strehler Theatre, in Milan, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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Construction work takes place at the Cortina Sliding Center, venue for the bob, luge and skeleton disciplines at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

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A billboard writing ‘One Year To Go’ for the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics is displayed in front of the Duomo gothic cathedral, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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IOC President Thomas Bach attends the ceremony ‘One Year To Go’ for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, at the Strehler Theatre, in Milan, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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Members of the Olympic committees attend the ceremony ‘One Year To Go’ for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, at the Strehler Theatre, in Milan, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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Italian National Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago, with Federica Pellegrini, speaks during the ceremony ‘One Year To Go’ for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, at the Strehler Theatre, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

By DANIELLA MATAR

MILAN (AP) — The one-year countdown to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics is on. IOC president Thomas Bach proclaimed on Thursday, “Italy is ready.”

Is it?

Italy has ski resorts in abundance and spectacular mountains but one pressing concern remains rebuilding the century-old sliding center in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

The International Olympic Committee has set a deadline for the end of next month for pre-certification of the Cortina track. There is a Plan B option that would require moving bobsled, luge and skeleton events all the way to Lake Placid, New York, if it isn’t finished in time.

Luca Zaia, the president of the Veneto region which encompasses Cortina, laughed when asked by reporters if there was any possibility the sliding events would have to take place across the Atlantic.

“Absolutely not!” he said with a chuckle. “You should see it … you can see the whole track at this point. We are really ahead with the work.”

With 180 people working from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day to build the sliding center, the first ice is slated to be laid on the track at the start of March.

“We are absolutely on track with it, even better than the planned schedule” Zaia said. “Having said this, I also want to remind everyone first and foremost that the sliding track is not something we are creating on an untouched mountain side. We went to salvage a dump, an excellent skeleton that was the old, abandoned sliding track.”

Zaia spoke to reporters after an event on Thursday to mark exactly one year to go until the opening ceremony of the 2026 Games in Milan’s iconic San Siro stadium.

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Bach was more succinct when asked if he had concerns part of the Games would have to take place in the United States.

“No,” he said with a smile.

These are the first Olympics to fully embrace cost-cutting reforms installed by Bach, and use mostly existing venues — which has meant scattering the Games all over northern Italy.

“Milano Cortina will be the first Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to fully benefit from our Olympic Agenda reforms from start to finish,” Bach said. “Most of (the venues) are already hosting world-class events. (These are) places where winter sports are part of the local identity.”

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics

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