Milan Cortina’s wide footprint reshapes the Olympic experience

MILAN (AP) — The head of Haiti's ski federation, Thierry Montiller, spent over four hours driving mountain roads from Bormio, near the Swiss border, where his downhill skier is competing in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, to Tesero in Val di Fiemme for his cross-country skier’s 10-kilometer race on Friday.

And he's headed back to Bormio on Saturday, another 220 kilometers (140 miles), for the giant slalom race.

“Yes, it is a major difficulty to have such distances,’’ he said.

Winter Olympics have often had city and mountain clusters, but these Games spread the mountain clusters over a much wider area, and the distance to the city is considerably farther. In total, competitions are taking place in a 22,000 square kilometer (8,500 square mile) swath of northern Italy, making this the most spread-out in Winter Games history.

Reviews so far are mixed and, at very least, this model will take some getting used to. There are advantages: avoiding massive public investment in venues that get little use after the Games; easier access for locals; and distributing tourists' dollars across the region. Still, after the first week, it seems that not everyone is a fan.

Bob Grover came from Portland, Oregon, to stay in Cortina for two weeks. He remembers going to the 2010 Games, where all the Alpine events were in Whistler and ice events in Vancouver — less than two hours apart. Not so in the Alps, where downhill sports are at different locations.

"It’s like, why isn’t it all in Cortina?" said Grover, 64, who owns a landscaping business. “Maybe they split it up so more of Italy could get the benefit. I understand the economic impact of that, so I won’t complain. But I’d like to go to more events.”

His wife, Theresa Kirsch, 63, lamented that the tradition of male downhill skiers cheering on their female teammates, and vice versa, in these Games would entail an 8-hour round-trip drive.

U.S. snowboarder Red Gerard had 11 days between his first two days of Olympic competition and was eager for a change of scenery. His sister arranged a celebratory meal with a Michelin-starred chef for 55 people in his extended family and guests, but it meant driving 3 1/2 hours to Milan, where they spent a couple of days, before returning to Livigno “to put his game face on.”

“Sometimes, I wish I was in Milan,’’ said Gerard. “It’s just a little harder to get the full Olympic experience. … It just takes a little more work.’’

The Olympic universe better get used to this model, because that’s the way it will be going forward.

The 2030 Winter Games will hold snow events in the Alps, the closing ceremony in Nice and speed-skating abroad. The 2034 Games will be in Utah, as opposed to Salt Lake City in 2002, when the medals plaza was held in the state capital each evening. The 2038 Winter Games will span the entire nation of Switzerland, without city anchors.

For some fans, the dispersion of venues has proven an opportunity to get on the road and see off-the-beaten-path locations in a country where, in many places, overtourism has become a problem. That's especially true if money or time (or both) are of little concern.

Tyler Thostenson, 36, and his mother expect to spend up to $20,000 for their 12-day itinerary from Milan to Livigno, stopping for lunch in St. Moritz, Switzerland, before winding their way to Cortina for curling. Next stop: Milan, for speed skating and U.S. men’s hockey.

This is their fourth Olympics. While the 2014 Sochi Games and 2018 PyeongChang Olympics provided single mountain clusters, they have embraced the Milan Cortina adventure.

“We’re lucky that we have a rental car, so we can actually stop in some of the smaller villages, and not just look out of a frosted-up bus window or train. It’s been nice to explore more of the countryside,’’ Thostenson said.

International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry praised the model on Friday, after spending two days in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where she saw Italian standout Federica Brignone win a gold medal in the super-G.

“Yes, it’s a little spread out, but the feeling of the Games is for me very magical,’’ Coventry told reporters in Milan. She acknowledged that the 400-kilometer (250-mile) drive to the Dolomites “wasn’t the most comfortable, right? But it was fun."

Unlike in other games, there isn't a geographic emotional center to the 2026 Winter Games in either Cortina and Milan, since both serve as anchors to five other venues.

In Milan, where venues are spread along the city’s outskirts and suburbs, the Leonardo da Vinci-inspired Olympic cauldron is the closest thing to a heart for the 2026 Games. It has become a gathering place for sporting fans and curiosity-seeking locals alike; they gather each night not to see sports, but rather a sound-and-light show against the backdrop of a Napoleonic arch.

But there's been an unexpected benefit: in past Olympic Games, that center has been the plaza where medals were distributed at the end of the day. Since the distances make bringing everyone together impossible, instead, spectators have been granted instant emotional payoff: medal ceremonies immediately after each event.

Kathy McCabe saw the U.S. figure skating team receive its gold medals on Sunday after a thrilling competition at the Assago skating arena. At the 2006 Games, she saw Shaun White win gold in the halfpipe, but not the medal draped over his chest.

“There was a lot more emotion to see the medal ceremony just a few minutes after the Americans won, and to see that raw emotion,’’ said McCabe, producer of the PBS series Dream of Italy. “It was really close and there were some beautiful performances.”

That snow events are held in several mountain towns means athletes, including South African cross-country skier Matt Smith, are removed from the Olympic glitz and happy to have that peace. He appreciates the intimacy in the 1,000-person village of Predazzo.

“I have gained a pukka Olympic experience, and I’m very grateful for it,’’ said Smith, using British slang for “amazing.”

Douglas reported from Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Brian Melley in Predazzo, Italy and Jennifer McDermott in Cortina contributed to this report.

A view of the Olympic cauldron at the Arco della Pace, during the evening light show, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Annie Risemberg)

IOC President Kirsty Coventry waves as she carries the Olympic torch, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Italy's Federica Brignone, center, gold medalist in an alpine ski, women's super-G race, celebrates with silver medalist France's Romane Miradoli, left, and bronze medalist Austria's Cornelia Huetter, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

FILE - Olympic snowboarder Red Gerard unveils Ralph Lauren's Team USA opening ceremony uniform for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics at Ralph Lauren headquarters, Dec. 3, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

Bulgaria's Radoslav Yankov competes against Slovenia's Tim Mastnak during the men's snowboarding parallel giant slalom qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

HOUSTON (AP) — Artemis II’s astronauts closed out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century with a Pacific splashdown on Friday, blazing new records near the moon with grace and joy.

It was a dramatic grand finale to a mission that revealed not only swaths of the lunar far side never seen before by human eyes, but a total solar eclipse and a parade of planets, most notably our own shimmering Earth against the endless black void of space.

With their flight now complete, the four astronauts have set NASA up for a moon landing by another crew in just two years and a full-blown moon base within the decade.

The triumphant moon-farers — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen — emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight off the coast of San Diego.

In a scene reminiscent of NASA’s Apollo moonshots of yesteryear, military helicopters hoisted the astronauts one by one from an inflatable raft docked to the capsule, hauling them aboard for the short trip to the Navy’s awaiting recovery ship, the USS John P. Murtha.

“These were the ambassadors from humanity to the stars that we sent out there right now, and I can’t imagine a better crew,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said from the recovery ship.

Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the entire plunge on automatic pilot. The lunar cruiser hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 — or 33 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since the 1960s and 1970s Apollo.

The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout. All eyes were on the capsule’s life-protecting heat shield that had to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry.

Watching the drama unfold nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away, hundreds of jubilant workers jammed Mission Control to celebrate the splashdown. Astronauts’ families huddled in a viewing room, where cheers erupted when the capsule emerged from its six-minute blackout and again at splashdown.

The last time NASA and the Defense Department teamed up for a lunar crew’s reentry was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II was projected to come screaming back at 36,170 feet (11,025 meters) per second — or 24,661 mph (39,668 kph) — just shy of the record before slowing to a 19 mph (30 kph) splashdown.

Until Artemis II, NASA’s fresh-from-the-moon homecomings starred only white male pilots. Intent on reflecting changes in society, NASA chose a diverse, multinational crew for its lunar comeback.

Koch became the first woman to fly to the moon, Glover the first Black astronaut and Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen, bursting Canada with pride. They laughed, cried and hugged all the way there and back, striving to take the entire world along with them.

Launched from Florida on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another as they deftly navigated NASA’s long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.

Artemis II didn't land on the moon or even orbit it. But it broke Apollo 13's distance record and marked the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when the crew reached 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). Then in the mission's most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman's late wife, Carroll.

During Monday's record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes of the moon's far side never seen before by the human eye along with a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular, “just blew all of us away,” Glover said.

Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channeled Apollo 8's first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968.

“We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon, bringing them back safely and to set up for a series more," Isaacman said. "This is just the beginning.”

Isaacman greeted the astronauts with hugs as they headed from the helicopters to ship’s medical bay for routine checks. They walked by themselves, refusing the wheelchairs offered them.

Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain's King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick “Project Hail Mary”; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV’s original “Star Trek.”

Despite its rich scientific yield, the nearly 10-day flight was not without technical issues. Both the capsule’s drinking water and propellant systems were hit with valve problems. In perhaps the most high-profile predicament, the toilet kept malfunctioning, but the astronauts shrugged it all off.

“We can’t explore deeper unless we are doing a few things that are inconvenient,” Koch said, “unless we’re making a few sacrifices, unless we’re taking a few risks, and those things are all worth it.”

Added Hansen: “You do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space and it’s a doozy.”

Under the revamped Artemis program, next year’s Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon’s south pole in 2028.

The Artemis II astronauts' allegiance was to those future crews, Wiseman said.

“But we really hoped in our soul is that we could for just for a moment have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted,” he said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

People wait for a glimpse of the return of NASA's Artemis II Friday, April 10, 2026, along the beach in Coronado, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

In this photo provided by NASA, the Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers aboard approaches the surface of the Pacific Ocean for splashdown off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

In this photo provided by NASA, the Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers aboard approaches the surface of the Pacific Ocean for splashdown off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

In this image from video provided by NASA, the Artemis II Orion capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, on Friday, April 10, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this photo provided by NASA, U.S. Navy divers prepare to deploy in small boats from the well deck of USS John P. Murtha to recover Artemis II crew members NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist and NASA's Orion spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

In this image from video provided by NASA, the Artemis II Orion capsule, right, separates from the service module above the Earth in preparation for splash down in the Pacific Ocean. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew, counterclockwise from top left, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover pose with eclipse viewers during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew photographed the Moons curved limb during their journey around the far side of the Moon on April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew photographed a bright portion of the Moon on April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew captured this view as the Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)