Editorial: Come on Ireland!
Did you know an Olympics is starting this week? Do you know where it's on?
I didn’t until I got a press release from the Olympic Federation of Ireland and I was surprised to see that it’s starting this Friday and it’s in Italy!
This week the Irish athletes are making their final preparations before the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. There are four Irish athletes competing.
Milano Cortina 2026 will be the first Olympic Games to be officially co-hosted by two cities. Milan will primarily host the ice events, and the other events will be hosted in clusters around Cortina and the Valtellina and Fiemme valleys. The athletes are: Anabelle Zurbay and Cormac Comerford who will both compete in Alpine skiing, Ben Lynch will compete in the Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe event while veteran Thomas Maloney Westgård is set to compete in his third Olympic Games, when he will become only the second man to ever compete in three winter games. He competes in the cross country events.
Anabelle Zurbay is specifically focusing on the technical events – slalom and giant slalom. The Colorado-based athlete is the youngest Irish athlete to ever compete in Alpine skiing at the Olympics, and she turned 17 last December. Zurbay’s family, via her maternal grandmother, comes from Rosemount, outside Moate. She will be competing in the Cortina cluster.
Ben Lynch will compete in the freestyle skiing halfpipe event. The Dublin-born skier moved to Vancouver with his family when he was three, where he discovered skiing. He is a first-time Olympian and will be based in Livigno.
Cormac Comerford will compete in Alpine skiing, with the slalom being his favourite discipline. The Dublin skier first found his love for skiing at the Kilternan dry slopes, and is also competing in his first Olympic Games. Cormac spends most of the winter travelling Europe, training and competing. He will be competing in the Bormio cluster.
Thomas Maloney Westgård competes in the cross country events, with the 50km race his favourite discipline. Thomas was born in a small island called Leka in Norway to a Galway mother and Norwegian father, and he competes for professional team Team Aker Dæhlie. Thomas will be competing in Predazzo, in the Val di Fiemme cluster.
The opening ceremony takes place on 6 February and the games run until 22 February. A new approach will see opening ceremony events across the four Olympic clusters, with celebration events in Cortina, Livigno and Predazzo, along with the main event in the Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium.
Our climate means winter sports are not really our thing but it’s great to see an Irish team competing at any Olympics and it’s an opportunity to get a taste of some unfamiliar sports. Good luck Cormac, Ben, Anabelle and Thomas!