Winter Olympics: Bolzano and Belluno the cradles of the athletes

In Milan Cortina 196 summoned. Trento takes the third step on the podium. South Tyrolean province always in the lead for number of participations since 2002, followed by Sondrio and Aosta

by Giacomo Bagnasco and Gianni Menicatti

2 February 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Bolzano does two for two and confirms itself as the leading province, in Italy, for the contribution to the Italian contingent at the Winter Olympics. And the South Tyrolean territory wins both in the historical ranking of the participations in the six editions of the Games held so far in the third millennium (247 representatives, from Salt Lake City 2002 to Beijing 2022), as well as with regard to Milan Cortina: competing from next weekend, the athletes from the northernmost province of the country will be 47 (out of a total of 196, a record number of summoned athletes).

The absolute numbers prove Bolzano right, which also leads with regard to the quotient between the number of inhabitants (considering the population between 15 and 65 years of age) and the number of athletes.

Providing the data is PTS Sport, a spinoff of PTS, a strategy and management consulting company. Alberto Miglietta, senior partner of the latter, explains: 'PTS Sport was born from the experience gained working alongside players in the sports world. It integrates mature skills that are open to innovation, combining vision and operability between the development of core practices (such as sustainability, major events and communication) and the construction of policies in emerging areas of sport: culture, health, territorial cohesion, and youth development'.

I VETERANI

Gli atleti azzurri con più partecipanti dal 2002 al 2026

The numbers that reward Bolzano

As of next Friday, 6 February, 103 men and 93 women will compete for Italy, with the female component achieving a historical record thanks to a 47.4% share of the Italian representative team. Bolzano, like Trento, will field at least one athlete (male or female) in 12 of the 16 disciplines on which the Games will be divided. At six are Belluno, Bergamo, Sondrio and Udine.

The clear success of the leading team is due in particular to two sports, each of which allows it to field 11 representatives: on the one hand, sledding (a traditional feud exclusive to South Tyrol) and on the other ice hockey, which, moreover, shows a peculiar situation. Out of 48 convocations for this sport (25 in the men's team, 23 in the women's team), some 20 concern oriundi and oriunde of Canadian or American birth, who also have an Italian passport due to the origins of their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

The Italian record holder for participation in the Winter Olympics is also from South Tyrol. Roland Fischnaller will be competing on the snows of Livigno in the parallel slalom speciality of snowboarding. His first participation in the Games dates back to 2002, when he was 21 years old, and he is about to face his seventh consecutive one now that he is 45, which also makes him the oldest Italian.

I MEDAGLIATI

La classifica degli atleti presenti a Milano Cortina con più medaglie (oro, argento e bronzo) dal 2002 al 2022

Alessandro Pittin, the Nordic combined specialist born in the province of Udine, and the Sondrio-bornArianna Fontana, the short track champion, will instead face their sixth Olympic experience. Fontana, then, overcame the odds in the third millennium results classification: her haul of 11 medals, two gold, four silver and five bronze, is impressive. In a ranking dominated by women are the three podiums of the returning Federica Brignone (one silver and two bronze medals) and Dorothea Wierer (biathlon, three bronze medals), plus the gold-silver pairings of Michela Moioli from Bergamo (snowboarding) and Sofia Goggia.

The other ranking cradles

Among the Olympic cradles, Sondrio and Aosta follow Bolzano in the 'historic' 2002-22 (with 56 and 35 convocations, respectively) although, if we avoid making the ratio to population, it would be Trento and Belluno, with 86 and 57, to finish second and third.

Belluno and Trento also take the podium in the participation in Milan Cortina, again in relation to inhabitants. The province of Cadore, which is present with 14 athletes, has the majority (4 out of 10) of the elements that will compete in curling, while Trento provides exactly half (5 out of 10) of the blue group in speed skating.

A MILANO CORTINA

I territori con più atleti (per provincia di nascita) alle Olimpiadi invernali 2026. Ogni 100mila abitanti (15-65 anni)

The Triumph of the Alpine Arc

In general, it goes without saying that it is the territories of the Alpine arc that monopolise the top positions in the rankings. On a regional level, for the Games starting next Friday, the absolute values attribute 81 presences to Trentino Alto Adige, 34 to Lombardy, 18 to Veneto and 11 to Piedmont. The absent regions are nine (Umbria, Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia). Looking at all editions from 2002 to 2026, the boxes of Molise, Basilicata, Calabria and Sardinia remain at 'zero'.

Just this year Campania will get its first presence, thanks to Neapolitan Giada D'Antonio, a promising alpine skier, who at 16 is the youngest Italian participant in the 2026 Games, as well as the southernmost. Among the other metropolitan areas stand out Milan and Turin, with seven representatives each, followed by Rome with four, Bologna with three and Genoa, with one.

The latest curiosities concern the bobsleigh, which attracts practitioners from the world of athletics and fields two athletes born in the 'marine' provinces of Livorno and Ravenna.

NEI GIOCHI INVERNALI DAL 2002 AL 2022

I territori con più partecipazioni ai Giochi invernali dal 2002 al 2022 per provincia di nascita degli atleti (esclusi i nati all’estero). Ogni 100mila abitanti (15-65 anni)