Winter Olympics face blackout risk as troubles arise on opening day
First issues emerge at the 2026 Games (photo: Getty Images)
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy experienced its first organizational hiccup even before the official opening ceremony. During the initial curling matches, the arena suddenly went dark, forcing the games to be temporarily paused.
RBC-Ukraine reports on the first problems at the Winter Games.
Blackout during matches
The incident occurred on the evening of February 4 at the Stadio Olimpico del Ghiaccio in Cortina. The arena was hosting the first mixed doubles curling matches, which officially opened the Games’ competition program.
Four matches were taking place simultaneously on the ice: Canada vs Czechia, Sweden vs South Korea, Norway vs Great Britain, and Estonia vs Switzerland.
Just five minutes after the matches began, the arena lights went out completely. Scoreboards and timers shut off, and athletes were forced to stop mid-play. Swedish curler Rasmus Wranå, for example, was preparing to make a shot when darkness interrupted the action.
The matches were put on hold as players and spectators waited for the electricity to be restored. Approximately three minutes later, the lights came back on, greeted by applause from the stands, and the games resumed.
Darkness in the Olympic arena (screenshot from Suspilne Sport broadcast)
What the organizers say
The organizing committee reported that the blackout was caused by a brief power supply issue.
"There was a brief interruption to competition at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium due to an energy-related issue. The interruption lasted approximately three minutes. Power was restored immediately, and competition has since resumed and is ongoing as planned," the official statement read.
The exact cause of the outage was not specified. However, according to international media, heavy snowfall hit Cortina during the day, with some areas receiving more than 20 cm of snow. The bad weather may have affected the infrastructure.
Due to the challenging weather conditions, men’s singles luge training was also postponed.
Earlier, we published the full schedule of competitions for February 5 at the 2026 Olympics.
You can also read about the conditions where athletes will be living during the Games.
