A great honor for Filippo Ganna. The 29-year-old rider has been officially chosen—together with tennis star Jasmine Paolini—to carry the Olympic flame for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games from Greece to Italy.
The torch handover will take place on December 4th at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. Afterwards, Ganna and Paolini will fly the flame to Rome, where the Italian leg of the torch relay will begin. This will conclude at the San Siro stadium in Milan, the venue for the Games’ opening ceremony. The Olympic Games will run from Friday, February 6, 2026, through Sunday, February 22, 2026.
It’s no surprise that Ganna was selected. The powerhouse from INEOS Grenadiers has achieved great success as both a track and road cyclist at the Olympic Games. He won gold with Italy in the team pursuit at Tokyo (2021). Three years later in Paris, he added two more medals: silver in the road time trial and bronze in the team pursuit.
