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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● A flurry of corporate partnerships were announced by the Milan Cortina organizers just as the six months-to-go bell rang, now giving the foundation staging the Games a total of 40 partners:
● 8 Premium Partners
● 8 Partners
● 16 Sponsors
● 7 Supporters
OnLocation has a special designation as the Official Hospitality Provider.
The eight Premium Partners include renewable energy company Enel, energy transition firm Eni, Italian mobility system operator FS Italiane, the Intesa Sanpaolo banking group, industrial conglomerate Leonardo, the national postal service Poste Italiano, winter lifestyle brand Salomon and auto giant Stellantis.
The Milan Cortina 2026 budget targets €575 million (~$670.6 million U.S.) for corporate support, with the 40 existing deals worth a reported €400 million, or 69.6% with six months left. The Winter Games will open on 6 February 2026.
● Athletics ● The news from Monday was the meet management’s announcement of the withdrawal of Jamaican sprint stars Kishane Thompson and Shericka Jackson from Wednesday’s Athletissima Diamond League meet in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Olympic 100 runner-up Thompson and two-time World 200 m Champion Jackson won their events at the Skowlimowska Memorial Diamond League in Poland on Saturday, both with close finishes over Americans Noah Lyles (9.87 to 9.90) and Brittany Brown (22.17 to 22.21).
Thompson complained of some “shin discomfort,” and reportedly will not compete in the remaining Diamond League meets, including the final next week in Zurich. He is now pointing for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September.
● Gymnastics ● The Russian news agency TASS reported that Tokyo Olympic Team gold medalist and 2021 World All-Around champion Angelina Melnikova (RUS) will return to international competition at the FIG Artistic World Challenge Cup on 13-14 September in Paris (FRA).
Melnikova was approved in March as a “neutral” competitor by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique. Now 25, she last competed at the 2021 Worlds, winning the All-Around, a Floor silver and a bronze on Vault.
● Ice Hockey ● The International Ice Hockey Federation announced its officials for the women’s Olympic tournament in Milan (ITA) in 2026, with 12 referees and 10 linespersons. Per IIHF Officiating Committee member Vanessa Stratton (CAN):
“We were down to a group of 30 officials heading into Olympic Qualifications in February 2025.
“Once those tournaments were over, our coaching group selected the 24 officials that would go to Women’s World Championships in Czechia in April 2025. At that point, we had identified our core group of referees (12) for the Olympic Games but still needed to select 10 linespersons from the 12 that were going to WW. Once WW was completed, our coaching group decided on the final 10 and everyone was notified soon after IIHF Council approved the nominations in May.”
The 22 selected come from Austria (1), Canada (8), the Czech Republic (2), Finland (2), Sweden (2) and the U.S. (7).
● Skiing ● Swiss Urs Lehmann, 56, the 1993 World Downhill Champion and the head of the Swiss Ski Federation since 2008, was named Friday as the first chief executive of the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS).
He will be working with FIS President Johann Eliasch (GBR) and Secretary-General Michel Vion (FRA). The international federation battled with national federations from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and others over rights control from the middle of the 2010s through December 2024, when an agreement was reported to have FIS as the central seller from the 2026-27 season onward.
Lehmann’s appointment may signal better relations between the FIS and the national federations who were the hold-outs on the rights deal until last year.
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