Vancouver Olympic cauldron will light up to celebrate Milano Cortina 2026

Your Morning Vancouver speaks to 2x Team Canada Paralympian and silver medalist Nathan Clement about how Vancouver is marking the opening of the games.

As Canadians get ready to cheer on their athletes at this year’s Winter Olympics, Vancouver will celebrate the occasion with a throwback to when the games were hosted at home.

The Olympic cauldron in downtown’s Jack Poole Plaza will be lit up Friday evening, after the opening ceremony for Milano Cortina 2026 wraps up.

Following a short ceremony, at 3:45 p.m., the Olympic flames will be burning in Vancouver until about 6 p.m.

North Shore resident Nathan Clement, a two-time Team Canada Paralympian and silver medalist, will be at the local ceremony. He told CTV Your Morning Vancouver that being a kid during the 2010 games was a “turning point” for him and many youth across the country.

“And now, being 16 years removed from the Vancouver games and seeing another chapter where we can celebrate many incredible Canadian athletes, it’s so special and just phenomenal to be here,” he said.

Clement said people should come out to see the sunset glow on the cauldron, adding the favourable weather is going to make the moment “absolutely phenomenal.”

“This is a glistening, glistening monument to so much work, so (much) dedication, so many sacrifices by pioneers in the women’s sporting space, men’s sporting space, para sporting space, that led to this moment in Vancouver 2010,” Clement said of the cauldron. “For people to come down and celebrate sport, it’s going to be a great moment just to celebrate all the Vancouver athletes, (and) all the athletes across Canada.”

The Olympic games in Italy run until Feb. 22, followed by the Paralympics between March 6 and 15. Clement says viewers should gear up for what could be “the greatest Paralympics Canada’s had” with athletes from Vancouver and across B.C. on the roster. This year also marks the 50^th anniversary of the first Paralympic Winter Games.