The 2026 ATA Trade Show and Collision Olympics will take place on Oct. 23 in Winnipeg at the Victoria Inn Hotel & Convention Centre, held just ahead of the annual Automotive Trades Association of Manitoba trade show for the third year in a row.
Plenty of companies will be attending, including Automotive Refinishing Technologies, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes and more.
The one-day event kicks off at 4 p.m. and will feature a presentation from the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair, an organization specializing in training and certification in the automotive industry as well as the Collision Olympics later that evening.
There is room for up to 20 teams. The Collision Olympics are run in 15 minute increments and how it works is with, “virtual helmets and your painter goes in and does some virtual painting on the hood of a car. He gets a digital score.
The bodyman goes in and does welding, he gets a digital score, and then an estimator gets pictures of a damaged car, and he writes his best estimate. Then we take those three scores, we add them up, and the top four teams go to the finals, and we give out gold, silver, and bronze medals and the top prize,” Denis Cloutier, the executive director of ATA Manitoba, told Collision Repair.
“We've got about 30 people coming out. Hunter [Engineering Co.] is setting up 8S equipment. We're doing a combination classroom and hands-on on a brand new Toyota electric vehicle. We’ve got I-CAR coming out for a short presentation and a Q and A session,” Cloutier continued “Our goal of this event is to encourage the relationships, partnership and camaraderie between the shops and the suppliers and each other.”
This event is free to attend. Find more information or register a team of three to compete in the Collision Olympics for a cash prize of $7,000 here.
