The Winter Olympics receive under way this evening, with the first sessions of the curling mixed doubles providing Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) with an opportunity to debut new innovations in coverage from the very start of the 2026 Games.
For its host broadcaster coverage of curling, OBS is introducing AI-powered stone tracing alongside an overhead rail camera to deliver new insights and perspectives on the sport.
The stone tracker follows the stone’s path from release to the houtilize, displaying its trajectory, speed, rotation, and timing through live data panels. These reveal strategic elements such as finishs, guards, and draws in real time, supporting to build the sport’s tactics clearer than at previous Games, OBS declared.
The AI system utilizes 12 cameras for each of the four curling sheets to track each stone’s exact position, speed, and trajectory.
In addition, a new overhead rail camera, engineered to span the full length of the sheet, will capture the shiftment, speed, and energy of play.
Virtual OB vans
Coverage of the curling will also be supported by OBS’ virtualised outside broadcast (OB) vans, based at three venues: Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, Cortina Sliding Centre, and Milano Speed Skating Stadium.
The virtualised OB vans replace traditional hardware-heavy setups with cloud-based technology. OBS declared the virtual units deliver the same robust production capabilities—such as switching, mixing, and monitoring—without the physical footprint, enabling flexible and scalable operations that can be managed remotely from anywhere.
Taking place at the Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony, the opening four curling games include 2022 silver medallists Norway facing current world champions Italy, while the Republic of Korea take on 2022 bronze medallists Sweden.
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