These Are the Most Unfold Out Winter Olympic Video games Ever—so I Visited All of the Venues in 24 Hours

The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics are essentially the most geographically unfold out Winter Video games in historical past, unfolding throughout 8,500 sq. miles of Northern Italy and the Dolomites. Moderately than concentrating in a single host metropolis, the competitions weave via alpine valleys, lakeside cities, the city heartbeats of Verona and Milan, and among the most breathtaking and iconic ski and snowboard terrains on this planet. The 15 official Olympic venues are scattered throughout seven clusters. As an alternative of 1 Olympic Village, there are six.

To make sense of this logistical pretzel, Milano Cortina organizers created a transportation app that lets customers plug in any two Olympic venues and generate an optimum route. In a panorama of street closures, single-lane mountain passes, and winter storms, it rapidly turned my North Star. For instance, once I traveled to Cortina to cowl the primary occasion, that meant a prepare from Milan to Venice, a bus from Venice to Cortina’s metropolis heart in the course of a blizzard, and a one-mile stroll via that very same blizzard to achieve the Curling Stadium. The journey took seven hours, a technique.

I’ve all the time been drawn to journey challenges that mix time stress, endurance, and a wholesome dose of delusion. Two years in the past, I accomplished seven triathlons on seven continents in seven consecutive days, an expertise that reshaped my sense of time and distance.

So once I overheard an Italian journalist casually comment that visiting all of the Olympic venues in a single day could be not possible and not using a helicopter, a lightweight bulb switched on. 

I’ve been an Olympics fan since my dad and mom took me to the 1996 Video games in Atlanta, once I was six years previous. Buying and selling pins, counting flags from all over the world, and feeling the heat of so many cultures converging in a single place are a few of my earliest childhood recollections. 

Six years later, on the Salt Lake Metropolis Winter Video games, I watched reporters interview athletes and realized that masking the Olympics is likely to be my dream job, which got here to fruition in Paris once I lined my first Video games as an Olympic correspondent.

I really like being within the Olympics bubble, a mixture of competitors, neighborhood, hope, and international tradition that feels bigger than sport itself. This problem turned my manner of celebrating that spirit, and the extraordinary work it takes to carry the Olympic Video games to life.

The journey started on Friday, Jan. 30, at Eataly’s Milan flagship. There, I tore into arancini with my pal Alfrēds Apinis, an elite Latvian runner I’d met whereas we had been each in Sydney for the marathon. After I described my Olympics problem, he supplied to assist with driving and logistics. 

Uncertain when or if we’d be capable of cease for correct meals, we stocked up on focaccia, fruit, croccante (almond brittle), and taralli (ring-shaped crackers). For hours, we performed what felt like Tetris on Google Maps, plugging in venues, rearranging their order, and debating trade-offs. Ought to we lower via Switzerland to save lots of kilometers, even when it meant risking border delays? Which mountain passes had been almost definitely to remain open in a single day? 

As we stared on the map, pinpoints scattered throughout essentially the most distant and spectacular terrain of Northern Italy, the size of the problem got here into focus. We in the end settled on a clockwise loop that may enable us to complete in Milan at San Siro Stadium, the positioning of the Opening Ceremony. 

That meant beginning our 24-hour clock round 5:30 a.m. in Bormio, so we drove there the evening earlier than. After the three.5-hour drive from Eataly, we checked into the Eden Resort, a mix of cedar cabin heat and glossy fashionable design, simply steps from the Olympic rings. Once we defined our plan, the bemused receptionist organized breakfast to open two hours early at 5:00 a.m., a kindness that felt emblematic of the area’s hospitality.

Over an distinctive pizzoccheri pasta dinner at Osteria De I Magri, the nerves set in. By the point my alarm blared at 4:45 a.m., sleep had been scarce. A croissant, some breadsticks, and one cappuccino later, we hit the street.

5:45 a.m.—Venue 1: Stelvio Ski Heart

Right here, the Olympics will host males’s alpine snowboarding and the one new sport this yr, ski mountaineering, during which you climb the mountain earlier than snowboarding down it as quick as doable. It was nonetheless darkish and bone-chillingly chilly after we arrived, so after a fast have a look at the venue, we swung by the Olympic rings on our solution to Livigno. 

7:17 a.m.—Venues 2 and three: Livigno Snow Park and Livigno Aerials and Moguls Park

The hourlong drive from Bormio to Livigno’s valley at dawn was spectacular, mild glowing off recent snow because the street mazed via alpine peaks. Even within the quiet of daybreak, I may sense that this might change into a high-energy coronary heart of the Olympics, internet hosting a lineup of adrenaline-spiking occasions: freestyle snowboarding and snowboarding. A DJ sales space, domed warming stations, and comfortable hospitality huts dotted the slopes, all framed by jagged mountains, ski jumps, the moguls course, and Olympic rings carved out of snow. 

Livigno is thought for its dairy and cheese, and it’s additionally one of many world’s uncommon duty-free zones. I had hoped we would have time to cease at Latteria Livigno, the highest-altitude dairy store within the area, however as a substitute, I tore into some focaccia as we inched towards the Swiss border, settling in for a 4.5-hour drive via picturesque alpine cities. About two hours in, we pulled over at a relaxation cease for cappuccinos.

12:29 p.m.—Venue 4: Antholz Anterselva Biathlon Area 

Tucked in the Dolomites close to the Austrian border, the Antholz Biathlon Area sits in a bowl of dramatic peaks. Whereas Olympic rings have popped up in cities and venues throughout Northern Italy, those in Antholz are definitely worth the journey only for that postcard picture op. 

2:13 p.m.—Venues 5, 6, and seven: Tofane Alpine Snowboarding Heart, Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, and Cortina Sliding Heart 

Cortina d’Ampezzo is usually referred to as the “Crown Jewel of the Dolomites.” As we arrived, it was straightforward to see why. If Aspen had an Italian twin, this might be it, with stylish boutiques, elegant eating places, and a vibrant après-ski scene. Cortina additionally showcases essentially the most picturesque Olympic Village, a neat grid of cabin-like constructions, with mountain views in each path. 

Our first cease was the Tofane Alpine Snowboarding Heart, host of ladies’s alpine snowboarding and among the most dramatic and anticipated occasions of the Video games.

From there, we moved on to the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium and the close by Sliding Heart, the house of bobsled, skeleton, and luge. Snowblowers hummed at Tofane, staff tightened signage on the curling venue, and the whole cluster had that particular pre-Video games buzz of anticipation and preparation. 

We grabbed a couple of slices at Ampezzo Pizza as we walked towards the close by Olympic rings. It was not possible to overlook simply how heavy site visitors already felt in Cortina, even every week earlier than the Opening Ceremony—a vivid reminder of why cautious planning, buffer time, and public transport could be important for anybody hoping to maneuver easily between venues.

7:36 p.m.—Venues 8 and 9: Predazzo Ski Leaping Heart and Tesero Cross-country Snowboarding Stadium

A critical accident forward of us on a one-lane, slim mountain street meant a expensive three-hour detour en path to Predazzo. With daylight and a mountain site visitors jam lastly behind us, we started to regain momentum as we entered Val di Fiemme, well-known for its geological range and “Forests of Violins,” the spruce timber lengthy coveted to create musical devices. Although darkness had settled by the point we arrived, we may nonetheless sense the grandeur of those venues.

The Predazzo Ski Leaping Heart sits only a 12-minute drive from the Tesero Cross-country Snowboarding Stadium. As we rolled out of our ultimate mountain cluster after snapping a couple of images, it was beginning to really feel like we would really full this. 

Round 9:00 p.m., we pulled right into a roadside restaurant for pizza to go, together with a mysterious salad topped with what seemed like burger meat (one thing was misplaced in translation). Once we defined our 24-hour Olympic problem to our waitress, she granted us a uncommon exception to order cappuccinos (a pretend pas after 11 a.m. in Italy), which gave us a much-needed jolt as we merged onto the freeway towards Verona. With the opportunity of practically 24 hours behind the wheel, we had in-built intentional relaxation stops, hydration, naps, and, sure, accountable doses of caffeine, to maintain us protected.

10:10 p.m.—Venue 10: Verona Closing Ceremony Website

The Area di Verona sits on the coronary heart of Verona, famed because the setting for Romeo and Juliet, and now, the Olympic Closing Ceremony. It felt quietly magical admiring these historic partitions, realizing that they’d quickly host the capstone celebration of the Video games that had been about to unfold. We arrived simply after 10:00 p.m. and stored our go to transient, aware that 4 extra venues awaited us in Milan, together with a two-hour drive forward.

12:36 a.m.—Venues 11-15: Milan

Our first Milan cease was Santa Giulia Stadium, one of many two ice hockey venues that made worldwide headlines amid considerations it may not be prepared in time. We famous the lively development zone, in addition to a hanging cylinder of LED lights wrapping the outside like a glowing halo.

It might have been quicker and extra environment friendly to hop on the subway from there on, a transfer I’d strongly advocate to any Olympic customer navigating Milan, however our rental automotive had us dedicated to the route.

Subsequent, we headed to the Determine Skating Area. A hoop of safety guards monitored the perimeter, and once I defined what we’d been trying all day, a couple of of them cheered, “Bravo!”

With Italy’s Raffaella Carrà booming via the audio system, we drove previous late-night clubgoers towards venues 13 and 14 on the Ice Park, dwelling to long-track pace skating and the second hockey rink at Rho. Nicely after 1:00 a.m., extra amused safety workers allow us to discover the venue’s perimeter. 

Simply after 2:00 a.m., we lastly pulled as much as San Siro Stadium, the positioning of the Opening Ceremony. Within the quiet of the evening, the size of what we’d simply achieved started to settle in. In lower than every week, the eyes of the world could be mounted on this actual spot because it broadcast symbols of hope, inspiration, friendship, and unity to a whole lot of tens of millions.