- - Welcome, 2026! Here are the landmark events that will happen in the new year.

Marlene LenthangJanuary 1, 2026 at 2:00 AM

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Leila Register / NBC News; Getty Images

This new year will be filled with milestones, including America’s 250th birthday, the world’s greatest sports competitions and a mission to the moon.

Here’s a look at some of the landmark events to come this year.

Milan Cortina Games

Grab your skis, snowboard and skates — it’s almost time for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

The Games will unfold in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, from Feb. 6 to 22, when the international stars of winter sports will compete for Olympic gold and glory.

The opening ceremony, which will be hosted by “TODAY” show anchor Savannah Guthrie and NBC Sports’ Terry Gannon, will be held at the San Siro soccer stadium in Milan. The celebration will feature the parade of delegations, the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, a performance by Mariah Carey and an act by Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino.

Some Team USA favorites returning this year are cross-country skier Jessie Diggins, para snowboarder Noah Elliot, freestyle skier Alex Hall and snowboarder Chloe Kim — all gold medalists.

The closing ceremony is set for Feb. 22. Both ceremonies will air on NBC and be available to stream on Peacock.

The Paralympic Games will take place March 6 to 14, also in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, featuring six sports: para Alpine skiing, para biathlon, para cross-country skiing, para ice hockey, para snowboard and wheelchair curling.

Artemis II launch

2026 is the year NASA finally returns to the moon — sort of.

The Artemis II mission, the next step in NASA’s return-to-the-moon program, is expected to launch sometime from February to April. The flight will be a key test of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The mission will send four astronauts on a roughly 10-day journey around the moon to evaluate how the Orion spacecraft’s various systems and hardware function in a deep space environment.

The mission will be the first crewed flight of the Artemis program, and it will take the astronauts to the closest point humans have come to the moon in more than 50 years, since the end of the Apollo program.

It will be closely watched, particularly as the Trump administration has repeatedly talked about the need to return to the moon before China lands its astronauts on the lunar surface. Much of that vision hinges on the outcome of the Artemis II mission.

If it succeeds, the flight will pave the way for the Artemis III mission, which is expected to land astronauts near the moon’s south pole. In a recent executive order, President Donald Trump directed NASA to return astronauts to the moon by 2028 “to assert American leadership in space, lay the foundations for lunar economic development, prepare for the journey to Mars, and inspire the next generation of American explorers.”

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FIFA World Cup 2026

¡Viva el fútbol!

The FIFA World Cup, the world’s premier international soccer competition, returns for its 23rd tournament this summer. This year, a record 48 teams will battle for glory across three host countries — the U.S., Canada and Mexico, a first.

The spectacle will kick off with the opening match June 11 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The finale is set for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Over the month, 104 matches will unfold, seeing the best of each nation go head to head.

The 16 host cities are Toronto and Vancouver in Canada; Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey in Mexico; and Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York-New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle in the U.S.

This year features 16 more teams than the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Returning this year are defending champions Argentina (three-time World Cup winners), the soccer legends of Brazil (record five-time winners), England (which won when it hosted the cup in 1966), Germany (a four-time winner), France (two-time winners, including as recently as 2018), Spain (2010 champions), Uruguay (two-time winners) and the U.S. — which has yet to claim the coveted title.

Nations making their World Cup debuts are Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan.

As of December, 42 teams have qualified, including Mexico, Canada, Australia, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

The remaining six will be determined by March, with four teams coming from the European playoffs and the two others from the World Cup playoff tournament, according to FIFA.

America 250

This year, the U.S. will celebrate its 250th birthday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

That day marked the foundation of the United States as a sovereign nation, severing from British colonial rule and enshrining America’s enduring creeds of equality and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Events and initiatives to commemorate the anniversary are already underway, with many scheduled throughout the year.

On New Year’s Day, America250, the nonpartisan effort that Congress established in 2016 to plan for the anniversary, will have a float in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. Its theme is “Soaring Onward Together for 250 Years.”

In January 2025, Trump issued an executive order to plan events to mark the anniversary. He later announced Freedom 250, a nonpartisan initiative launched at his direction to plan additional celebratory events. Those events kicked off on New Year’s Eve with the Washington Monument being transformed into the “world’s tallest birthday candle” by projections being displayed nightly through Jan. 5.

A “Great American State Fair” will take place on the National Mall, featuring pavilions from all 50 states, from June 25 to July 10, according to Freedom 250.

“Frankly, you’ll never see anything like it, and you’ll never see anything like it again,” Trump said in a video address on Dec. 18.

The festivities will be capped with a “unifying national celebration on the National Mall” on Independence Day, including a flyover by the military, an address by Trump and a fireworks display.

The group also announced the first “Patriot Games” — a four-day athletic competition featuring top high school athletes, one young man and one young woman, from each state and territory.

In addition, there will be a parade for Memorial Day and a UFC event at the White House on Flag Day, June 14, which is also Trump’s birthday.

Trump also said he plans to build a “triumphal arc,” similar to Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, in the nation’s capital.

Midterm elections

The battle for control of Congress, as well as key governor’s races and downballot elections across the country, will dominate the 2026 political calendar.

Republicans are defending a narrow majority in the House — Democrats need to net just three seats to take back control (a task that could be complicated by the ongoing redistricting wildfire that has swept state legislatures across the country). The GOP’s defense of its Senate majority is likely to be easier, as Democrats need to net four more seats there, and most of that battlefield runs through states Trump won in 2024.

There will also be major governor’s races in key swing states like Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin; legislative races that could determine control of legislatures across the country; and mayoral races in cities like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

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Source: “AOL Sports”