Everything you need to know about the candidate city election to be the 2026 Winter Olympic hosts

The candidate city election for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24th June at the 134th IOC Session.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Members will vote between the two candidate cities, Stockholm–Åre in Sweden and Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy_._ Swedish and Italian IOC Members will not be allowed to vote. (Cities listed in order of drawing of lots by IOC Executive Board.)

The 2026 candidature process was the first to be based on the "New Norm", a framework developed by the IOC to deliver cost savings and long-term legacy benefits to host cities.

On 24th May, the IOC released its Evaluation Commission's report into the two candidatures.

The Commission and the two host city candidates will be able to address the IOC members on the day before the election.

Olympic Channel will show all the build-up and the candidate city announcement ceremony live from 14:00 CEST (1200 GMT) on Monday 24th June as part of our coverage of the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne.

At 17:30 CEST (15:30 GMT/UTC), Olympic Channel are broadcasting a live and exclusive preview show capturing the excitement with additional insights and special guest interviews, hosted by Olympian Mirjam Jaeger on the ground in Switzerland and news presenter Ashlee Tulloch from the Olympic Channel studios in Madrid, Spain.

Then at 18:00 CEST (16:00 GMT/UTC), IOC President Thomas Bach will announce which candidate city has been elected as hosts to stage the 2026 Games.

Timetable of events on 24th June

Stockholm–Åre made its final presentation first, at 14:00 local time for 30 minutes.

Milan–Cortina then presented their final pitch at 14:45, also for 30 minutes.

The IOC Evaluation Commission addresses the Session and holds a question-and-answer discussion at 15:15.

Voting will follow at 16:00, with the election announcement scheduled for 18:00.

The signing of the Host City Contract and a press conference follows at 18:30.

A live stream of the announcement ceremony on 24 June will be available on the Olympic Channel.

Proposed 2026 Winter Olympics venues

The IOC Evaluation Commission visited the two final candidates, Stockholm–Åre from 12–16 March and Milan–Cortina from 2–6 April.

Both candidates have proposed holding the Olympic Games from 6–22 February 2026, and the Paralympic Games from 6–15 March 2026. Detailed competition schedules will be developed by the host city between now and the Games.

Stockholm–Åre

Stockholm–Åre are proposing four venue clusters, each with its own Athletes' Village: Stockholm (ice hockey, curling, speed skating, short track speed skating, figure skating, cross-country skiing, biathlon, alpine team event, Big Air, and aerials), Åre (alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboard), Falun (Nordic combined, ski jumping), and Sigulda, Latvia (bobsleigh, luge, skeleton). The Village in Falun would make use of hotels.

Nine of the candidature's proposed 12 competition venues have already been built, while one is being built regardless of the Games. Two new venues would have to be built for the Games, for cross-country/biathlon and speed skating.

The Opening Ceremony would be held at the national stadium, the Friends Arena in Stockholm, while the candidature proposes holding the Closing Ceremony across the four venue clusters.

Milan–Cortina

Milan–Cortina also propose four venue zones, with six Athletes' Villages. The suggested zones are: Milan (ice hockey, figure skating, short track speed skating), Valtellina (men's alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboard), Cortina (women's alpine skiing, bobsleigh, luge, skeleton, curling, biathlon), and Val di Fiemme (cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, speed skating). Athletes competing in Valtellina would stay in Bormio hotels and in Livigno, while biathlon athletes would be based in hotels at Antholz.

Only one permanent competition venue (for ice hockey) would need to be built, although it is being built irrespective of the Games.

Milan's Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, also known as the San Siro stadium, would host the Opening Ceremony, while Verona's ancient Roman amphitheatre is proposed for the Closing Ceremony.

Sports expertise and Olympic history

Both candidates have an Olympic hosting past in addition to more recent sports hosting expertise.

Stockholm hosted the 1912 Olympic Games as well as equestrian events during Melbourne 1956 (due to quarantine rules in Australia). Cortina d'Ampezzo was the host city of the 1956 Winter Games. Additionally, Italy has also hosted the Rome 1960 and Torino 2006 Games.

Stockholm–Åre

In the last 11 seasons, Sweden (and Sigulda in Latvia) have hosted 93 international winter sports events in the Olympic sports.

Sigulda has hosted 10 World Cup events in the sliding sports and two World Championships since 2008/09; Stockholm and Åre have been home to 18 alpine skiing World Cup events (and this year's Alpine World Ski Championships); while Östersund staged a Biathlon World Cup every year from 2008/09 to 2017/18 before hosting this year's World Championships.

Falun, Gällivare, Ulricehamn, and Stockholm have held 22 cross-country skiing World Cups and one Nordic World Ski Championships; Falun also hosted three World Cups in Nordic combined and ski jumping in 2013/14 before the Nordic worlds a season later.

Stockholm held snowboard World Cups from 2008/09 to 2011/12, while Sweden has also put on three ice hockey world championships and two curling world mixed doubles championships.

Sweden did not host any international events in figure skating, speed skating, or short track in the last 11 seasons.

Milan–Cortina

Italy has hosted 173 major international events in the winter Olympic sports since 2008/09.

This includes eight bobsleigh, luge and skeleton World Cups and a luge World Championships at Cesana; 61 World Cup events in alpine skiing including at Bormio and Cortina; and 18 freestyle ski World Cup stops including two in Milan.

Antholz, which is proposed to showcase biathlon, has held a stop on the annual World Cup circuit every year in the last 11 seasons. There have also been 39 World Cup stops in the country in cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping, mostly at Val di Fiemme, in addition to the 2012/13 Nordic World Ski Championships in the resort.

Milan hosted the 2018 World Figure Skating Championships eight years after Turin did so, while Cortina held the World Mixed Doubles Championships and World Men's Championships in curling in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

And in snowboard, the country has staged at least one stop every year during this period, holding a total of 28 World Cup events in that time.

In the last 11 seasons, Italy did not host international events in ice hockey or speed skating.

Live stream on Olympic Channel

A live stream of the announcement ceremony on 24 June will be available on the Olympic Channel.

All times are Lausanne local time, Central European Summer Time (UTC+2). Schedule is subject to change.

14:00–14:30 Stockholm–Åre final presentation

14:45–15:15 Milan–Cortina final presentation

15:15–15:40 IOC Evaluation Commission presentation and Q-and-A

16:00–16:30 Distribution of voting boxes; Vote to elect Host City

17:30–18:00 Live preview show presented by Mirjam Jaeger in Lausanne and Ash Tulloch in Madrid

From 18:00 Announcement of the Host City

From 18:30 Signature of Host City Contract, followed by joint IOC-Host City press conference

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