For the 2026 Winter Olympics (Milano Cortina 2026), only a portion of the 10,001 torchbearers has been publicly announced so far, so there is no complete final list yet.

Below is a Quick Scoop–style explainer with what is known and how it works.

Who are the torchbearers in Olympics 2026?

Quick Scoop

  • The Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Torch Relay will feature about 10,001 torchbearers across Italy.
  • Organisers are revealing names in waves between late 2025 and early 2026, mixing celebrities, athletes, everyday heroes and partners’ nominees.
  • As of early 2026, only some torchbearers are officially confirmed; a full public list like Paris 2024’s is not yet available.

Confirmed early torchbearers (official announcements)

From the Milano Cortina 2026 foundation’s first reveal of six torchbearers in September 2025:

  • Achille Lauro – Italian music artist known for his bold, innovative style.
  • Flavia Pennetta – Former tennis star, 2015 US Open champion and multiple Billie Jean King Cup winner for Italy.
  • Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia – Two‑time MotoGP World Champion and Moto2 World Champion, symbolising courage and speed.
  • Andrea and Franco Antonello – Father and son: Andrea is autistic, and together they’ve turned their experience into a widely known story of resilience, travel and inclusion.
  • Dario Pivirotto – Veteran who already carried the flame at Cortina 1956 and Torino 2006, representing continuity across generations.
  • Lucia Tellone – Abruzzo baker who revived a disused community oven and now teaches bread‑making for free, representing community and rebirth.

Other sports names announced later (via Italian federation and media coverage) include:

  • Andrea Soncin – Coach of the Italian women’s national football team, named as a torchbearer.
  • Cristiana Girelli – Captain of the Italian women’s national football team, also chosen to carry the torch.
  • Jasmine Paolini – Italian tennis player, selected as a torchbearer and celebrated in Italian sports media and video coverage.

Pop culture angle and forum buzz

A big trending point online has been the inclusion of actors from the hockey drama series “Heated Rivalry” , which has an active fandom:

  • Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie , stars of the show, were announced as torchbearers for the Milano Cortina 2026 relay.
  • Fan forums and Reddit threads in early 2026 have been buzzing about them leading part of the relay and potentially showing up at hockey and figure skating events during the Games.
  • This fits a broader trend of Olympics organisers inviting entertainment figures to draw younger and more global audiences to winter sports.

How many torchbearers and how they’re chosen

For Milano Cortina 2026, the relay is designed as a long journey across Italy, similar in spirit to Paris 2024 but with its own route and selection scheme:

  • Around 10,001 torchbearers will carry the Olympic Flame for the Winter Games.
  • The relay lasts about 63 days , covers roughly 12,000 km , and passes through around 60 stage cities , including Rome, Naples, Bari, Cortina d’Ampezzo and Milan’s San Siro stadium for the Opening Ceremony.
  • Torchbearers are proposed and selected through:
    • Institutional partners and local governments ,
    • Associations and schools ,
    • Sponsors such as Coca‑Cola and Eni,
    • National and local sports bodies.

A Wired Italia piece explains that the selection is not only about fame but about the message each person carries (community service, inclusion, sporting spirit, cultural impact).

Timeline and “latest news” aspect

Milano Cortina 2026 uses staged announcements to keep the torch relay in the news cycle:

  • 26 September 2025 – First names revealed (Achille Lauro, Pennetta, Bagnaia, Antonellos, Pivirotto, Tellone).
  • 26 October 2025 – Second wave of names, including additional athletes and community figures, reported in Italian media and federation announcements.
  • 26 November 2025 – Flame lit in Olympia, Greece.
  • 4 December 2025 – Handover ceremony in Athens; flame arrives in Rome.
  • 6 December 2025 – Official start of the relay in Italy, moving northward over two months.

By early 2026, some celebrity and athlete torchbearers (including the “Heated Rivalry” actors) were still being highlighted in entertainment and sports coverage, giving fans new names to follow.

Will there be a full public list like Paris 2024?

For Paris 2024 , organisers published a searchable public list of all 11,000 torchbearers online.

For Milano Cortina 2026 :

  • Organisers have not yet released a comparable, fully detailed public database of all 10,001 names.
  • Instead, they are spotlighting selected torchbearers through news articles, federation releases, and partner campaigns, with the rest likely to remain known mainly at regional or local level.

So if you’re asking “who are the torchbearers in Olympics 2026,” the answer is:

  • We currently know some high‑profile and emblematic names ,
  • But the complete list is not (yet) fully public , and many torchbearers will be local community figures whose names only appear in regional coverage or on-site.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.