Rome – Organisers for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games announced on Friday that two of Italy’s most prominent sporting figures—two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia and former tennis U.S. Open winner Flavia Pennetta—will be among the first people to carry the Olympic torch.
The pair will join the torch’s journey around Italy, which is set to begin in Rome on December 6 and conclude two months later at the Opening Ceremony in Milan’s San Siro stadium.
Torch Relay Details and Key Figures
The Olympic tradition will begin on November 26 when the flame is lit at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, before being handed over in Athens on December 4. Once in Italy, the torch relay will involve some 10,000 people and cover 12,000 kilometres across the country.
- Bagnaia’s Role: As the back-to-back 2022 and 2023 MotoGP champion with Ducati, Bagnaia is one of Italy’s most popular contemporary athletes.
- Pennetta’s Star Power: The former world number six tennis player, who won the U.S. Open singles title and multiple doubles titles, is now 43 and working as a tennis pundit.
- Historic Presence: They will be joined by other locally-famous personalities, including Dario Pivirotto, who previously carried the torch for the Cortina d’Ampezzo Games in 1956 and in Turin in 2006.
The relay will visit famous Italian sites like Pompei and Lake Como. It will pass through Cortina—site of many alpine events—on January 26 before heading toward its final destination in Milan.
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