The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics are underway after the lighting of the Olympic cauldrons and the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony.

The Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Milan on Friday dazzled with highlights like a Leonardo da Vinci-inspired cauldron and Mariah Carey singing in Italian

The performance in Milan looked squarely at the past, both in substance and in style.

NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2036, which are scheduled for Milan Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028), French Alps (2030), Brisbane (2032), Utah (2034), and the 2036 Summer Games. Click here for more information on how to watch the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off with an opening ceremony on Friday that averaged 21.4 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Milan Cortina Olympics’ flashy opening ceremony averaged 21.4 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, a jump of 34% from the opening for the 2022 winter games in Beijing, per preliminary data from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

European attitudes toward the U.S. have shifted dramatically over the past year, recent polls indicate.

Team Canada figure skater Madeline Schizas made light of missing a college assignment ... because she was competing in the Olympics. Here's more.