IOC confident of Winter Olympics preparation despite delays

One month out from the start of the Winter Olympic Games in Italy, the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) executive director Christophe Dubi told AFP on Tuesday that he was confident everything would be prepared on time, despite serious concerns.

Delays have hampered the preparation of some of the Milan-Cortina Olympic event sites, such as those used for ice hockey, snowboarding and freestyle skiing.

"We're at the stage where everything is coming together, with just a month to go to the opening ceremony," Dubi told AFP in a written response to questions.

"The preparation is moving from the planning phase to the full operational implementation across all clusters.

"Recent test events -- speed skating, ice hockey, and last weekend the biathlon at Val di Fiemme -- confirmed the readiness and provided us with valuable final information.

"All these things strengthen our confidence," he added.

The Santagiulia Arena in Milan, which will host the final stages of the ice hockey tournament, will be opened this week, a month behind schedule.

Next month's Games will mark a return of NHL stars to the Olympics for the first time in 12 years.

"The infrastructure for the ice hockey, I am talking about the dressing room, the practice area, the field of play, that's going to be ready," International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif said on Monday.

"We are going to have a fantastic tournament," he added.

The snowboard and freestyle competitions will be held in Livigno, near the Swiss border, where artificial snow needs to be produced to build the jumps, obstacles and mogul runs that will feature on the course.

That was delayed by several days due to a technical problem but the 2026 Games CEO Andre Varnier assured AFP on Monday that the snow production was progressing as forecast.