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The countdown is on for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.The torch relay is already underway and some of the top athletes are already making headlines. There are 16 sports in all, including some never seen before, and 116 gold medals are waiting to be awarded when competition begins in less than a month.This will be the most spread-out Winter Games in history: The two primary competition sites are the city of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the winter resort in the Dolomites that is more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) away by road. Athletes also will compete in three other mountain clusters besides Cortina, while the closing ceremony will be in Verona, 160 km (100 miles) east of Milan.Get ready for all of the events with this guide of things to know! Key dates to know Competition runs Feb. 4-22. Here are some of the big days to mark on your calendar:Feb. 4: Competition begins (curling).Feb. 6: Opening ceremony.Feb. 7: First gold medal events.Feb. 8: Gold medal, women’s Alpine skiing downhill.Feb. 13: Gold medal, men’s figure skating.Feb. 18: Gold medal, women’s Alpine skiing slalom.Feb. 19: Gold medal, women’s figure skating. Gold medal game, women’s ice hockey. First gold medals in ski mountaineering, a new Olympic sport.Feb. 22: Gold medal game, men’s ice hockey. Closing ceremony. How to watch Dozens of countries will stream or air each day’s events, with some delaying broadcasts until primetime depending on the time zone. That will be the case in the U.S., where Eastern time is six hours behind Milan and Cortina. NBC will carry showcase events at night while streaming sports on Peacock. Top storylines Athletes to watch: Two of the most decorated Alpine skiers in history, 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, opened the World Cup season in dominant form, raising American hopes of a golden run in Cortina. Eileen Gu is back in freestyle skiing, as is Chloe Kim in snowboarding. NHL players are back on Olympic ice for the first time since 2014 so watch for the likes of Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid.Venues: All eyes are on the hockey arenas in Milan, which were still under construction in December; the main rink will be about 3 feet shorter than NHL and PWHL players are used to. And the athletes’ village in Cortina is a set of more than 350 mobile homes.Russian athletes: Some sports federations are deciding whether to let Russians compete as neutral athletes but only after they are cleared by an independent review to ensure that they have not publicly supported the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated with Russia’s military or other forces.What’s new: Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut while skeleton has added a mixed team event, luge has added women’s doubles and large hill ski jumping added women’s and men’s super team events. AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics Associated Press
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E-Commerce
If you’ve been noticing that cobalt-hued water bottles have started to pop up everywhere you’re not alone. The water has recently made an appearance on shelves at major retailers including Whole Foods and 7-Eleven, starred in viral social media videos created by fitness influencer Ashton Hall, adorned on tables at the Golden Globes, and beginning this week, will star in a fresh new advertising campaign featuring WNBA point guard Skylar Diggins. All of these marketing efforts represent a more expansive pitch by Saratoga Spring Water that the brands premium-priced water isnt just for fine dining– which has been the brands core focus for the past several years — it’s for everyone. From fine dining to cultural signal We have an opportunity to speak to a lot more people than I think we thought we did, says Kheri Tillman, chief marketing officer of Saratogas parent company Primo Brands, in an interview with Fast Company. Consumers love the blue bottle and want to engage with it in many different places, as opposed to just fine dining. Its a bit of an affordable luxury. Saratogas total points of distribution has swelled by 69% during the first 11 months of 2025 compared with the prior-year period, the brand told Fast Company, citing data from market researcher Circana. While partnerships with Michelin-starred chefs like Buddha Lo are still important, Saratoga felt it had room to stretch to a wider audience and has done so through a pop-up speakeasy at a 7-Eleven in Los Angeles held in November, a brand partnership with BMX star Nigel Sylvester, and water-food pairings at fancy restaurants developed with water sommelier Martin Riese. It creates, dare I use a water pun, fluidity between the partners, says Christi Lazar, head of The Lab, the in-house creative agency at Primo Brands that vets external partnerships. She says the throughline through each of these relationships is a connection to water that feels as authentic as possible. A new face for a broader audience The brands next big new moment is an ad campaign starring Diggins, which debuts on January 5 just days before the Golden Globes, an event that Saratoga sponsors as its official water. The ad spot will run across broadcast television; Instagram, TikTok and other paid social channels; and print titles including paid social channels including Instagram and TikTok, and print titles including Vogue and Travel + Leisure. [Photo: Primo Brands] Skylar was really interesting, because she was this great mashup of super high-end, with a great look that you would expect from Saratoga, but then also just this every day work, hard grit that you would need to be to be a professional athlete, as well as a mother, says Tillman. Diggins tells Fast Company that the campaign is a good fit for her own brand because obviously, as an athlete, hydration is extremely important. But, she adds that the campaign, which ends with Diggins appearing in front of flashing paparazzi cameras on a bluenot redcarpet appearance, represented her life off the court thats more style, elegance, and how I like to dress. Letting virality do the work The viral moment with Hall skewed more male. Tillman says that Saratoga opted to allow that cultural moment to play out without any interference from the brand. You cant plan a viral moment, but what you can do is make your brand relevant enough, to certain people, to make them want to have it by their side, says Tillman. Primo Brands says it grew the companys audience on Instagram by 77% in 2025. Primo Brands is a relatively new entity, formed late in 2024 through the combination of Primo Waters, whose brands included Mountain Valley and Crystal Springs, and BlueTriton, the water purveyor of Saratoga, Deer Park, and Poland Spring. [Photo: Primo Brands] The combined company now sells one out of every four plain water bottles in the U.S., according to beverage industry publication Beverage Digest, easily making Primo Brands the most dominant seller of branded plain bottled water. Private label plain bottle water accounts for 62% of the market, while soda giants Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Keurig Dr Pepper are all in the single-digits, Beverage Digests data shows. Premium waters crowded next chapter Duane Stanford, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, tells Fast Company that premium-priced water brands like Saratoga and Smartwater have reported growth thats outpaced the total plain bottled water industry, which in total reported a volume increase of 27% over the past decade through 2024. Saratoga, he says, elevated the brands positioning through a focus on distribution to fine dining restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality channels. They made a conscious effort to do a lot more with that brand and premiumize it and take advantage of that blue bottle, adds Stanford. Primo Brands says that the companys premium portfolio, which includes Saratoga and The Mountain Valley Spring Water, posted a 126% increase in retail sales for the first 11 months of 2025 versus the same period a year ago, citing retail scan data from Circana. But the category is competitive and rival brands have also rolled out major ad campaigns in 2025. Coca-Colas Smartwater reunited with pitchwoman Jennifer Aniston for a new campaign as macroeconomic pressures have dampened some demand for pricy water. Around the same time, ival Sanpellegrino, which is owned by Nestle, debuted an ad spot with The Sopranos stars Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa. Primo Brands has also leaned on celebrities for its advertising, including the Saratoga-Diggins spot and an advertising campaign starring Perfect Pitch actresses Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson to promote the Splash Refresher brand. Tillman says it is key for Primo Brands to differentiate the marketing strategy for the glass adorned Saratoga and Mountain Valley from the regional water brands like Poland Spring and Deer Park, a portfolio of six names that focus on more hyperlocalized marketing and particularly leverage a sponsorship with Major League Baseball. Some of those brands are big sellersPoland Springs is a billion dollar brand thats only sold in six statesbut, the intention is to keep them regional, says Tillman. Saratogas fine dining efforts are also continuing through the work the brand does with Riese, a German-born water expert who created his first menu to explain regional variations and flavor in his home country in 2005. When it comes to water, our most important beverage on this planet, were treating it as a commodity, Riese tells Fast Company. He works with restaurants like Gwen, the Los Angeles Michelin-starred restaurant by chef Curtis Stone, to cultivate a water menu with selections from nine different countries, including Fiji from the Fiji Islands and Frances Evian. Saratogas sparking water has enough fizz that it can be enjoyed with appetizers as a champagne replacement, says Riese, who works with Primo Brands as a paid partner. I dont see water as hydration, says Riese. And I think, especially here in America, a lot of people don’t understand and don’t know it yet, that there’s an epicurean side to water.
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President Donald Trump’s plan to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry and ask American companies to revitalize it after capturing President Nicolás Maduro in a raid isn’t likely to have a significant immediate impact on oil prices.Venezuela’s oil industry is in disrepair after years of neglect and international sanctions, so it could take years and major investments before production can increase dramatically. But some analysts are optimistic that Venezuela could double or triple its current output of about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day to return to historic levels fairly quickly.“While many are reporting Venezuela’s oil infrastructure was unharmed by U.S. military actions, it has been decaying for many many years and will take time to rebuild,” said Patrick De Haan, who is the lead petroleum analyst at gasoline price tracker GasBuddy.American oil companies will want a stable regime in the country before they are willing to invest heavily, and the political picture remained uncertain Saturday with Trump saying that the United States is in charge while the current Venezuelan vice president argued, before Venezuela’s high court ordered her to assume the role of interim president, that Maduro should be restored to power.“But if it seems like the U.S. is successful in running the country for the next 24 hours, I would say there would be a lot of optimism that U.S. energy companies could come in and revitalize the Venezuelan oil industry fairly quickly,” said Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group.And if Venezuela can grow into an oil production powerhouse, Flynn said “that could cement lower prices for the longer term” and put more pressure on Russia.Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said oil companies are “going to go in and rebuild this system.”A major shift in oil prices wasn’t expected because Venezuela is a member of OPEC, so its production is already accounted for there. And there is currently a surplus of oil on the global market.The price of U.S. crude oil lost 23 cents early Monday to $57.09 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 18 cents to $60.57 per barrel. Proven reserves Venezuela is known to have the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves of approximately 303 billion barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That accounts for roughly 17% of all global oil reserves.So international oil companies have reason to be interested in Venezuela. Exxon Mobil didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.ConocoPhillips spokesperson Dennis Nuss said by email that the company “is monitoring developments in Venezuela and their potential implications for global energy supply and stability. It would be premature to speculate on any future business activities or investments.”Chevron is the only one with significant operations in Venezuela, where it produces about 250,000 barrels a day. Chevron, which first invested in Venezuela in the 1920s, does business in the country through joint ventures with the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA.“Chevron remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets. We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations,” Chevron spokesman Bill Turenne said.But even with those massive reserves, Venezuela has been producing less than 1% of the world’s crude oil supply. Corruption, mismanagement and U.S. economic sanctions saw production steadily decline from the 3.5 million barrels per day pumped in 1999 to today’s levels.The problem isn’t finding the oil. It’s a question of the political environment and whether companies can count on the government to live up to their contracts. Back in 2007, then President Hugo Chávez nationalized much of the oil production and forced major players like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips out.“The issue is not just that the infrastructure is in bad shape, but it’s mostly about how do you get foreign companies to start pouring money in before they have a clear perspective on the political stability, the contract situation and the like,” said Francisco Monaldi, who is the director of the Latin American energy program at Rice University.But the infrastructure does need significant investment.“The estimate is that in order for Venezuela to increase from one million barrels per day that is what it produces today to four million barrels, it will take about a decade and about a hundred billion dollars of investment,” Monaldi said. Strong demand Venezuela produces the kind of heavy crude oil that’s needed for diesel fuel, asphalt and other fuels for heavy equipment. Diesel is in short supply around the world because of the sanctions on oil from Venezuela and Russia and because America’s lighter crude oil can’t easily replace it.Years ago, American refineries on the Gulf Coast were optimized to handle that kind of heavy crude at a time when U.S. oil production was falling and Venezuelan and Mexican crude was plentiful. So refineries would love to have more access to Venezuela’s crude because it would help them operate more efficiently, and it tends to be a little cheaper.Boosting Venezuelan production could also make it easier to put pressure on Russia because Europe and the rest of the world could get more of the diesel and heavy oil they need from Venezuela and stop buying from Russia.“There’s been a big benefit for Russia to see Venezuela’s oil industry collapse. And the reason is because they were a competitor on the global stage for that oil market,” Flynn said. Complicated legal picture But Matthew Waxman, a Columbia University law professor who was a national security official in the George W. Bush administration, said seizing control of Venezuela’s resources opens up additional legal issues.“For example, a big issue will be who really owns Venezuela’s oil?” Waxman wrote in an email. “An occupying military power can’t enrich itself by taking another state’s resources, but the Trump administration will probably claim that the Venezuelan government never rightfully held them.”But Waxman, who served in the State and Defense departments and on the National Security Council under Bush, noted that “we’ve seen the administration talk very dismissively about international law when it comes to Venezuela.” Associated Press writers Matt O’Brien, Ben Finley, Darlene Superville and Rio Yamat contributed to this report. Josh Funk, AP Business Writer
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