The International Olympic Committee Executive Board has approved sweeping changes to the venue masterplan for the Alpes 2030 Olympic Winter Games, including vacating the French Riviera cluster altogether.
The ice sports and disciplines — curling, figure skating, ice hockey and short track — will be relocated to a new cluster in Lyon, France. And Thialf Ice Stadium, located in Heerenveen in the north of the Netherlands, has been approved to host speed skating because of the absence of an existing, dedicated speed skating stadium in France.
That change means this will be the first Olympic Winter Games to be held in multiple countries. According to a press release from the IOC, the relocation will “support a more compact overall Games footprint and enable significant cost efficiencies.”
Earlier this year, French media reports suggested that Games organizers had been unable to reach a hosting agreement with the City of Nice and its proposed venues, and instead had looked at Paris and Lyon as potential alternatives.
In addition, Courchevel and Val d’Isère have been confirmed as the two Alpine skiing venues, covering both technical and speed events.
The proposals were first submitted by the Alpes 2030 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games following a comprehensive review of the venues in collaboration with the IOC, international federations and public authorities.
Original Venue Masterplan
In the original masterplan, the Games were expected to take place across four main areas, or clusters: Haute-Savoie, Savoie, Briançon and Nice.
Nice was provisionally selected to host the ice hockey (at Stade de Nice, the home of OGC Nice Club de Foot) and curling (Palais Nikaia); Briançon would welcome freestyle skiing and snowboarding (Serre Chevalier and Montgenèvre); Savoie would deliver bobsled, luge, skeleton (La Plagne), alpine skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined (Courcheval and Val-d’Isère); and Haute-Savoie would be home to cross-country skiing (La Clusaz) and biathlon (Le Grand-Bornand).
There is also some doubt around the locations for the Opening and Closing ceremonies. No specific details have been revealed about the Opening Ceremony, although it is rumored to be taking place in Lyon, while Nice’s Promenade des Anglais was expected to host the Closing Ceremony until the latest updates were confirmed.
The venues are being selected with a core focus on sustainability, following a pledge by organizers to deliver 93 percent of venues that are pre-existing or temporary to reduce the carbon footprint of the Games. The majority of the venues will also be legacy structures that were previously used for the Albertville Games in 1992.
Additional Sports
Ski mountaineering has been approved as an additional sport for the 2030 Games, with five ski mountaineering events proposed across two disciplines.
“Skimo” made its Olympic debut at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games at the Stelvio Ski Centre, including the individual sprint and mixed relay events. However, its inclusion in 2030 is set to be expanded to include both men’s and women’s individual race events.
Further disciplines seeking inclusion include freeride, telemark skiing and snow polo, although ice climbing has already been rejected, and Nordic combined and snowboard parallel giant slalom remain at risk of exclusion.
2030 Emblems
Earlier this month, the two emblems for the Alpes 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games were unveiled, taking inspiration from “a mountain revealed by light.”
The emblems feature a range of colors inspired by two elements of mountainous regions: light and ice. Midnight blue and azure blue evoke altitude, depth, stability and the horizon, while red and pink alpenglow represent the energy of the event, spirit of sport and enthusiasm, coming together under one unified identity.
As well as light and ice, the selected emblems were built around convergence and the concept of “coming together.”
Future Games
The United States will host the 2034 Olympic Winter Games in Utah, marking a return to the region for the first time since 2002.
This week, it was also announced that Lake Placid and New York City are forming an Exploratory Committee to assess the feasibility of a bid for the 2042 Winter Games. Lake Placid has previously hosted the Games on two occasions, in 1932 and 1980, respectively.
At the 146th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC set out its strategic direction for the Olympic Movement to remain strong, relevant and impactful in the coming years. This includes the “Fit for the Future” directive with five key themes — Athletes, Olympic Games, Olympic Movement, Olympic Impact, and Engagement and Revenue — all of which include a goal, an ambition, objectives for 2032 and additional commitments.
Also announced at the IOC Session were:
- Every athlete at the Olympic Games will be eligible for a new $10,000 “Fit for the Future Olympian Grant” for the first time — part of a $140 million fund per Olympiad that has already been set aside.
- Amendments to the Olympic Charter, including strengthening the principle of neutrality within the Olympic Movement and modernizing the governance of the Olympic Games program. It also comes in response to the inclusion of Russian athletes at the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games and the exclusion of Ukrainian skeleton slider Vladyslav Heraskevych for refusing to remove a “helmet of remembrance” for Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed in the ongoing war with Russia.
- The Olympic Games host selection process will be reformed with the introduction of a new transitional stage of “strategic dialogue.” In addition, the 2036 Olympic Summer Games host country will be announced in mid-2029.
The disciplines, event programs and athlete quotas for the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are due to be finalized in the coming weeks.
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