Winter Olympics 2026: Milan - Cortina d'Ampezzo (ITA) triumphs over Åre (SWE) to host the Games

Milan - Cortina d'Ampezzo (Lombardy/Veneto, Italy) has been designated as the host site for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, according to the IOC, on 24/06/2019, during its 134^th Session in Lausanne (Switzerland). The city (Milan) and the winter sports resort (Cortina d'Ampezzo), 400km apart, were in competition with Stockholm - Åre (Sweden). Milan obtained 47 votes versus 34 for the Stockholm. Italy will therefore host its third Olympic Winter Games in 2026, after Cortina d'Ampezzo (1956) and Turin (2006).

After the withdrawals of Sion (Valais, Switzerland) and Graz-Schladming (Styria, Austria) and the IOC's exclusion of Erzurum (Eastern Anatolia, Turkey), Calgary's withdrawal following a negative referendum (on 13/11/2018) left only two candidates facing each other for the 2026 Olympics: Stockholm - Åre and Milan - Cortina d' Ampezzo.

"With this project aligned with Olympic Agenda 2020, we have seen how we can also lower the complexity of the Games and how this can be addressed in a better way, and how the use of existing facilities is facilitating sustainability and…