MILAN: The 2026 Winter and Paralympic torches were unveiled at a dual event held in Milan and Osaka on Monday as the countdown continues for next year’s Milan-Cortina Games.

Designed by the Carlo Ratti Associati studio in Turin, the torches were presented for the first time in a theatre at Milan’s Triennale art and design museum and the Italian pavilion at the World Expo in Japan.

In Milan, former cross-country skiing Olympic gold winner Stefania Belmondo and Beatrice Vio, a two-time Paralympic wheelchair fencing champion, brought out the torches which are made from recycled aluminium.

Paralympic champion Martina Caironi and Carolina Kostner, a figure skating bronze medallist at the 2014 Sochi Games, were in Osaka.

Weighing 1,060 grams and made in Italy, the Olympic torch is light blue while the Paralympic torch is bronze, and the design allows them to be reused and refilled up to 10 times.

The torch’s burner will run on bio-LPG, a renewable liquid gas made mainly from waste, such as used cooking oil and animal fats, and its flute-like shape is designed to both highlight the flame and keep it away from the athletes.

Vio joked with the audience that the torches used for last year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris “practically went in my face”.

“Thanks for being concerned about people’s faces!” she said.

As per tradition, the Olympic torch will be lit at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, on Nov 26 before being taken to Athens for the handover ceremony, scheduled for Dec 4.

The flame will begin its journey around Italy in Rome two days later, snaking across the country until it arrives in Milan on Feb 5, one day before the opening ceremony in the Mediterranean nation’s economic capital.

The opening ceremony will be held at the iconic San Siro stadium, which usually hosts matches for Italian football giants Inter Milan and AC Milan.

After the official kick-off, the Games will take place over a vast area of northern Italy stretching from Milan to ski resort Cortina d’Ampezzo near the border with Austria.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2025