Organizers in Ancient Olympia held an emergency rehearsal on Monday to light the flame for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

The main challenge was the weather: no direct sunlight, no flame.

A mirror must focus direct sunlight to generate the searing temperature needed for ignition. Without it, the method fails.

With heavy cloud cover forecast for Wednesday’s official lighting ceremony, the flame produced on Monday will be kept as a backup.

An actress portraying an ancient high priestess used the concave mirror to concentrate the sun’s rays onto a torch.

It took seven seconds to ignite the flame – without artificial means and preserving a tradition inspired by the original Olympic Games dating back 2,800 years.

The flame was lit following a theatrical invocation of Apollo, the ancient god of light.

Olympic organizers said they had been tracking the weather for days, supported by a team from the Greek Meteorological Service, to time the brief window of sun.

Olympia, 320 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Athens, was considered sacred ground by the ancient Greeks.

Today it serves as the symbolic starting point for every Olympic competition, the flame intended to link the ancient festival and the modern games.

AP video by Lefteris Pitarakis and Derek Gatopoulos