Summer Olympians begin torch relay for Milan Cortina Winter Games on 2-month countdown

Olympic swimming champion Gregorio Paltrinieri and fellow Summer athletes started the torch relay for the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Saturday — marking exactly two months before the Feb. 6 opening ceremony.

Paltrinieri carried the sleek torch around the track of the statue-lined Stadio dei Marmi at the Foro Italico in Rome to begin a trek covering 12,000 kilometres (nearly 7,500 miles) that will wind its way through all 110 Italian provinces before reaching Milan's San Siro Stadium for the opening ceremony.

"It's a pleasure to be part of the Olympic movement even if it's Winter Olympics," Paltrinieri said.

In all, there will be 10,001 torch bearers.

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The making of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic torch

At the end of the opening day, police said they stopped two groups of pro-Palestinian activists from coming into contact with the relay route.

Giancarlo Peris, the final torch bearer from the 1960 Olympics in Rome, carried the Olympic flame in a lantern to get the proceedings going. The 84-year-old Peris was 18 when he lit the cauldron at the Stadio Olimpico — which is next to the Stadio dei Marmi — more than 65 years ago.

"I didn't think I would be here today," Peris said with a chuckle.

Paltrinieri won gold in the 1,500 metres at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and has five Olympic medals in all. He and girlfriend Rossella Fiamingo, a fencer, carried Italy's flag at the closing ceremony for last year's Paris Games.

"I used to ski when I was a kid but then I stopped because it's a little bit dangerous for me," Paltrinieri said. "Skiing is my favorite [Winter Olympic sport]. ... Alberto Tomba was one of my biggest idols."

Paltrinieri handed off to retired fencer