The Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics are in a race against the clock to be ready for the Winter Games opening ceremony on February 6.

A number of projects are still under construction, including infrastructure, transport links and even venues.

In Milan, a purpose-built 15,000-seater arena in Santa Giulia, in the south east of the city, is the highest-profile delay.

The ice hockey venue is due to host test events on January 9 and then the preliminary rounds of the men's Olympic ice hockey on February 5.

It remains a large construction site and does not look like a stadium that will be hosting an Olympics next month.

"We have some delays at Santa Giulia, but we are super confident that in the end everything will happen as we planned," Chief Games Operations Manager Andrea Francisi told CGTN.

The stadium has also been criticized by America's National Hockey League (NHL).

The NHL has agreed to release athletes to the Olympics for the first time since 2014. It says the rink is too small for NHL standards, and that if the surface is deemed unsafe, it could withdraw players from the competition.

The Milan Cortina 2026 local organizing committee defended the dimensions, saying: "They are consistent with IIHF regulations and match the rink size used at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games."

Constant building

In Cortina, residents have become accustomed to the constant sound of building sites in the idyllic upmarket ski resort. The Dolomites dwarf the cranes that dominate the town's skyline.

Traffic is slowed by construction, with tunnels to bypass mountain roads to Cortina still unfinished. But it is a project on the mountain that is currently causing the most concern.

Plans for the Apollonio-Socrepes cable car had promised to transport 2,400 spectators an hour to the start of the women's alpine skiing, an event featuring some of the Games' biggest names. Due to delays, ticket sales have had to be limited for Cortina's major events.

Sustainability was central to Milan Cortina's bid for the 2026 Games, and many of the venues already existed and are ready to go. In Milan, the opening ceremony will be held at the San Siro Stadium, figure skating at the Milan Ice Skating Arena, and the international media center at the MiCo Convention Centre.

A 4,000-seater temporary ice park has been constructed and will host some ice hockey and speed skating.

The city center has 33,000 hotel rooms and is not reliant on new construction or infrastructure to support visitors expected for the Games.

"Looking at the sports that will be in Milan – ice skating, hockey and artistic skating – we expect mostly North American and Asian tourists because they have the possibility to win medals. So Americans, Canadians, Chinese and South Koreans will probably be most of our guests," said the President of Milan Federalberghi, Maurizio Naro.

With under a month to go, accommodation and most venues are in a position to host the Olympic Games in northern Italy. However, for a Games that will be the most geographically widespread in Olympic and Paralympic history, infrastructure delays and the late delivery of construction projects remain a major concern.