The 2026 Winter Olympics closed with a ceremony that played like a love letter to Italy and to the athletes who spent 17 days on snow and ice. Staged inside Verona’s ancient Arena, the show aired at 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET), with a primetime encore for U.S. viewers, and formally marked the end of the Milano‑Cortina Games.
In a first for a Winter Olympics, two separate cauldrons in Milan and Cortina were extinguished as part of the farewell, underscoring the twin‑city identity that defined these Games.
Titled Beauty in Action, the ceremony blended protocol and performance, with Italian ballet star Roberto Bolle headlining alongside singer‑songwriter Achille Lauro, actress Benedetta Porcaroli and DJ Gabry Ponte. For U.S. viewers, one of the emotional anchors was figure skater Alysa Liu, who capped her comeback by winning women’s gold and then returned for the exhibition gala in Milan as one of the night’s standout closers—cementing herself as one of Milano‑Cortina’s breakout stars.
The show revisited big moments like Liu’s win while leaning into Italian art history, fashion and cinema references, sending athletes home with one last postcard from the host country.
As always, the ceremony also looked ahead: mayors from Milan and Cortina handed the Olympic flag to IOC president Kirsty Coventry, who then passed it to the mayor of Nice, France, host of the 2030 Winter Games. For anyone catching up after the fact, there’s a full rundown of broadcast times, performers and how the night tied together the Games’ biggest storylines—from Alysa Liu’s gold to Team USA flag‑bearers Hilary Knight and Evan Bates—in this official guide to the 2026 Winter Olympics closing ceremony.
