At 07:45 in the morning, the Olympic Flame for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games began its route toward the Panathenaic Stadium from the Acropolis, where the previous evening the cauldron had been lit by gold-medalist rower Stefanos Ntouskos.

Several well-known personalities took part in the torch relay, among them the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

A little after 08:30 in the morning, Kimberly Guilfoyle—wearing the official torch-relay uniform with beanie and gloves—received the Flame in front of the Acropolis Museum, on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street.

The torch was handed to her by the Secretary General of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and Olympian in sailing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Stefanos Chandakas.

After covering the designated distance, the U.S. Ambassador passed the Flame to Josh Huck, the No. 2 official at the U.S. Embassy in Athens.

He, in turn, carried it and handed it to Christos Marafatsos, co-chairman of the movement Greeks for Trump, continuing the relay chain in the heart of Athens.

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Today’s route of the Olympic Flame concludes with its handover ceremony to the “Milano Cortina 2026” Organizing Committee, so that it may continue its journey to Italy until the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games on 06.02.2025.

The route from the sacred rock of the Acropolis to the Panathenaic Stadium once again connects the Greek Olympic tradition with the institution of the modern Olympic Games.