Winter Olympics opens in style with unprecedented double cauldron lighting

Having started off-piste with protests over ICE agents and reports of penis injections, the Milan and Cortina Winter Olympics got back on track with a bulgingly ambitious opening ceremony either side of the Italian Alps.

Mariah Carey crooned ‘Volare’ and Andrea Bocelli belted out ‘Nessun Dorma’ in a marathon four-hour show at San Siro, in which the only note of friction was booing for the attending United States vice-president JD Vance.

Italian skiing legends Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni jointly lit the cauldron at the Arc of Peace in Milan, while another alpine hero, Sofia Goggia, lit an unprecedented second cauldron in Cortina.

International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry, in her first Games since replacing Thomas Bach in March last year, said: “From north to south, east to west, the flame shines as a beacon of hope for all.

“Tonight, that flame will ignite the cauldron. Its light will shine for the athletes – and from them, it will spark inspiration across the world.”

British sliders dominated the World Cup skeleton season, curlers top world rankings in both men’s and mixed doubles and three British snowboard and freestyle stars won gold medals at the prestigious Aspen X Games last month.

Global stars do not come much bigger than Lindsay Vonn, who is persisting in her comeback bid despite rupturing a knee ligament last week, or Eileen Gu, the Chinese freestyle star whose popularity transcends the globe.

Meanwhile, from the city to the mountains, Italians dream of uncovering a new generation of Olympic stars to match the likes of Tomba and Goggia. In such dreams, an unprecedented and far-flung Games will discover its unifying force.