MILAN (AP) — Hockey, one of the premier events at the Winter Olympics and one that is welcoming NHL players back for the first time in more than a decade, will take place on ice that is shorter than NHL-regulation size.
Men's and women's games at two arenas will be played in rinks that are 60 meters long by 26 meters wide, or 196.85-by-85.3 feet. NHL dimensions are 200 by 85 feet (60.96 by 25.908 meters), so the Olympic ice will be slightly wider and more than 3 feet shorter.
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An overview of the Ice Skating Arena where some Ice Hockey matches of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Friday, Dec.5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
An overview of the Ice Skating Arena where some Ice Hockey matches of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Friday, Dec.5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
A worker prepares the Ice Skating Arena where some Ice Hockey matches of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Friday, Dec.5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
An overview of the Ice Skating Arena where some Ice Hockey matches of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Friday, Dec.5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
The International Ice Hockey Federation approved the Milan rinks, which fit one of the governing body’s standard sizes and was used by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators for two games in Stockholm in November.
The IIHF shifted to the NHL dimensions at the Olympics beginning in 2018 and used again in 2022. The 2026 Games in February mark the first time NHL players will be at the Olympics since 2014 in Sochi.
The IIHF on Monday confirmed the different size was in place in Milan without explaination.
“While these dimensions differ slightly from a typical NHL rink, they are consistent with IIHF regulations, match the rink size used at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and are fully consistent with the dimensions the NHL requires as part of its Global Series Game arena specifications,” the federation said. “All involved, the IIHF, the Organizing Committee, NHL, NHLPA, IOC and the relevant venue authorities agree that the differences in rink specifications are insignificant, and should not impact either the safety or quality of game play.”
Olympic hockey had been played on international ice of 60 by 30 meters (196.85 by 98.4 feet) in 1998, 2006 and 2014, with a slight variation in Salt Lake City in 2002. It was played on NHL-sized ice in Vancouver in 2010 because of the existing arenas.
“It’s the same for every team, and I think that’s the bottom line,” Finland men’s hockey general manager Jere Lehtinen told The Associated Press. “Our coaches, maybe it’s more interesting and something you need to pay attention more.”
Canada general manager Doug Armstrong first brought up the ice being slightly off from NHL regulation size on a podcast in early September and then discussed it again in October. National federations have been aware of the specs for quite some time; Canada assistant coach Peter DeBoer broached the topic recently on a radio show, raising questions about why it's not NHL-sized ice.
The ice dimensions will be the same in both hockey arenas in February: the main arena that is still being built and the smaller, temporary venue that is situated inside an exhibition center.
Construction at the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena — the new, 16,000-seat venue on the outskirts of Milan — is going down to the wire and organizers told The AP that there was “no plan B.”
A test event had to be moved to the Rho Ice Hockey Arena and new test events at the main venue aren’t scheduled until Jan. 9-11, less than a month before the first puck is dropped. Workers on Friday were still putting the finishing touches to the venue in Rho, just three days before the start of the IIHF Group B Under 20 World Championship that will serve as a test event.
“We’re aware that they’re behind schedule a little bit, but we’re all assuming that that’ll all be taken care of," Canada men’s assistant coach Bruce Cassidy said last week.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has brought up logistics concerns repeatedly. At the league’s annual fall Board of Governors meeting in October, he said: “We are constrained in what we can and can’t do, request and demand and if it reached a certain point, we’ll have to deal with it. But I’m not speculating, and we’ve been constantly assured by the IOC and the IIHF that it will be OK.”
The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled from Feb. 11-22. The women’s tournament runs from Feb. 5-19.
Whyno reported from New York.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics
An overview of the Ice Skating Arena where some Ice Hockey matches of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Friday, Dec.5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
An overview of the Ice Skating Arena where some Ice Hockey matches of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Friday, Dec.5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
A worker prepares the Ice Skating Arena where some Ice Hockey matches of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Friday, Dec.5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
An overview of the Ice Skating Arena where some Ice Hockey matches of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Friday, Dec.5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Mohamad Al-Assi ran beneath the concrete wall as the sun rose over Bethlehem. His Nikes pounded the gravel, his breath fogging the air as graffiti and paint splatter blurred past with each stride.
The road along the barrier separating Israel from the occupied West Bank makes up a stretch of a marathon route that Al-Assi and thousands of others ran on Friday. The event is open to people in other parts of the world running in solidarity with the Palestinians and another, shorter race was happening in Gaza.
The race, known as the Palestine Marathon, was held for the first time in three years and was among the first big international events in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Festivals, conferences and holiday festivities that once drew thousands have been scaled back or canceled because of the war in Gaza and heightened Israeli restrictions.
It marked a turning point for Al-Assi, 27, who was released from Israeli detention six months ago. Video from that day shows him gaunt-faced and hollow-eyed, his once muscular legs weakened after more than two and a half years of prison.
He began training in December, gradually upping his mileage every month since. He ran 62 miles (100 kilometers) that first month, and in April reached 135 miles (217 kilometers), according to his account on the tracking app Strava.
He jogs in the morning after his mother wakes him up in their home in Dheisheh, a Palestinian refugee camp made up of graffiti-covered cinderblock homes in tangled alleyways.
“The main difficulties we face are the cars on the roads and the presence of Israeli security forces along the route where I train,” Al-Assi said.
He had to suspend his training several times because of military operations in the camp.
“I would return home feeling hopeless because I couldn't do what I had intended to do,” Al-Assi said.
In the West Bank, runners cannot complete a 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) course without hitting a checkpoint or military gate, which is why Friday's marathon route looped around the same circuit twice.
They ran up through the narrow streets of two Palestinian refugee camps and down to a farming town next to Bethlehem where fields are divided by the concrete wall, barbed wire and cameras. The course hooked back to finish at Bethlehem’s Manger Square.
Organizers say the race highlights restrictions facing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where checkpoints can disrupt even routine commutes and where open land for hiking, biking and running is increasingly taken by Israeli settlements and outposts.
“Marathon runners anywhere may ‘hit a wall’ under the physical and emotional strain of completing the 42-kilometer race course," they said on the marathon's website.
But in the West Bank, they added, "runners literally hit the Wall.”
At a time when the West Bank’s economy is struggling and in the shadow of Gaza's fragile ceasefire and stalled rebuilding efforts, the atmosphere in Bethlehem was celebratory. Crowds gathered near the Church of the Nativity to cheer runners at the race's early morning start and finish. Bagpipes blared and drummers pounded out traditional rhythms through streets along the route.
On a beachside road in Nuseirat in central Gaza — which is roughly the length of a marathon — 15 disabled people, including amputees, ran a 2K, and a couple thousand of people ran a 5K. Thirteen years after the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, canceled a 2013 marathon because Hamas forbade women from participating, the women were back.
Haya Alnaji, a 22-year-old woman who ran in the 5K, said the number of people taking part reflected that Palestinians in Gaza were determined to live and persevere despite the devastation wrought by more than two years of war.
“All of Gaza loves sports,” she said.
Al-Assi was arrested in April 2023, and imprisoned under administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold detainees for months without charge. Between 3,000 and 4,000 Palestinians are being held under that system, according to Israeli rights groups and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
In October 2023, Al-Assi was sentenced for transferring money to suspicious entities, a charge he denies. Israel closely monitors money transfers — particularly to Gaza — for fear that funds could end up in the hands of militants. Palestinians, however, say donations and charitable contributions are often swept up in the dragnet. Israel’s military, Shin Bet and Prison Service did not answer questions about Al-Assi's charges.
In Israeli prisons — where detainees routinely complain of inadequate diets — Al-Assi said nearly everyone goes hungry. The weight he lost eroded the endurance built through 10 years of training.
“I have more muscle mass than fat, so when I lost weight, the loss came from my muscles rather than fat,” he said. “This had a major impact on my physical fitness.”
He also had to regain the mental fortitude to run a marathon.
“I was emotionally shattered after spending such a long period in prison,” he said.
On Friday, he collapsed to his knees, bowing and thanking God after finishing second overall, as supporters and journalists encircled him. He dedicated his run to Palestinians still in Israeli detention.
“After 32 months in prison, Mohamad Al-Assi is first in his class!” he shouted through tears, raising his hands and looking up to the sky.
__ Imad Isseid contributed from Bethlehem, West Bank and Abdel Kareem Hana from Nuseirat, Gaza Strip.
A Palestinian amputee runner takes part in the 2-kilometer Palestine Marathon along the coastal road near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinian runners take part in the 5-kilometer Palestine Marathon along the coastal road near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Runners participate in the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Runners pass by Israel's separation wall as they compete in the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian Mohamad Al-Assi, who was released from Israeli detention six months ago, runs past Israel's separation wall as he trains ahead of the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sam Metz)
