2026 Winter Olympics: Nigerian Athlete Set to Make History with Date, Time and Channel to Watch
- The 2026 Winter Olympics is preparing to kick off in Italy with the opening ceremony at San Siro on February 6
- The ice and snow Olympics in Italy in 2026 will be the first time in history that two cities are hosting the games
- Africa has 15 representatives at the tournament, one of whom is a Nigerian participating in cross-country skiing
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The 2026 Winter Olympics is set to kick off in Italy, starting with the opening ceremony in Milan on February 6, 2026 and will run through February 22.
The Winter Olympics is famously the ice and snow games, where athletes compete in games supported by the weather and terrain it was named after.
Source: Getty Images
As noted by ESPN, the 2026 event will be the first time that the event is held in two cities, as the cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo will share the hosting duties.
The opening ceremony will be held at the iconic Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, popularly referred to as San Siro in Milan, on Friday, February 6 and will be broadcast on SuperSport channels on DStv.
According to Football Italia, Inter vs Torino’s Coppa Italia quarter-final match on Wednesday was moved to a neutral venue in Monza as San Siro is prepared for the opening ceremony.
Terry Gannon will host the event alongside former Olympic snowboarding champion Shaun White, and will feature performances headlined by Mariah Carey.
Loc Lang Lang, Cecilia Bartoli, Andrea Bocelli, Laura Pausini, Pierfrancesco Favino, Sabrina Impacciatore and Matilda De Angelis.
The Olympic torch started in Olympia, Greece on November 26, 2025 and has been in Rome since December 4, and will reportedly move across all regions of Italy before landing at San Siro.
Samuel Ikpefan set to make history
According to the Olympics, there will be 15 African participants at the games. Five from South Africa, two each from Kenya, Madagascar and Morocco, while Nigeria, Eritrea, Benin and Guinea-Bissau will have one each.
Nigeria’s Samuel Ikpefan is set to be the country's sole representative for the second tournament running, having also been the only one at the Beijing 2022 games.
Ikpefan, who was born and raised in the French Alps, will participate in cross-country skiing. He finished 73rd overall in the men's free sprint in 2022.
He will compete in the men's sprint classic on February 8, and the men's 10 km interval start free on February 13.
Source: Getty Images
Ikpefan admits that he feels a sense of responsibility representing Africa at the games and hopes his journey will inspire the younger generation.
“I do feel a certain responsibility, but I see it as something positive. Representation matters. If my journey can inspire young athletes of African heritage to believe that winter sports are accessible to them, then it’s already a success,” he told Flashscore.
Favour Ofili dumps Nigeria for Turkey
Legit.ng previously reported that Favour Ofili dumped Nigeria and switched her international allegiance to represent the Turkish athletics team.
Ofili reacted to the disappointment of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria failing to register her for the 100 metres event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Source: Legit.ng
