#2026 Milan Winter Olympics medal design takes inspiration from the mountainous peaks of northern Italy

Dubbed the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, the upcoming international multi-sport event is scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the latter of which also hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics. In the build-up to the grand event, creative outfit Weekend-works.com has revealed its unofficial design concept for the Olympic medals, inspired directly by the mountainous terrain around the north of Italy, amidst the Dolomites.

Designer: Weekend-works.com

“This medal design is inspired by the Dolomites mountain chains”, mentions Jaekyu Jung of Weekend-works.com. The dented surface isn’t just a hat-tip to the mountain’s uneven terrain but is also reminiscent of the constant work, perseverance, and unrelenting effort on the part of each athlete who participates in the Olympics. Each medal is extruded and cut out as a blank disc before the details are CNC machined along the front as well as the rim of the medal. Finally, to achieve the battered texture, each medal is manually hammer-finished by artisans as a way of honoring the sheer effort and human hours that go into training for the Olympics. The medal is finally completed with a ribbon that’s made sustainably from ocean-bound plastic.

This will be the fourth Olympic Games hosted in Italy (Cortina d’Ampezzo previously hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics), and the first hosted in Milan. It will also be the first Olympic Games featuring two host cities in an official capacity and is slated to be the first Winter Olympics since Sarajevo 1984 with opening and closing ceremonies will be held in different places.