Sliding Venue for 2026 Winter Olympics to be Tested in March

Construction progress of a sliding track that will host events at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, a venue the International Olympic Committee wished organizers did not pursue, was still praised during this week’s IOC Executive Board meetings.

The Cortina track needs to be certified by March to be approved for use in the February 6–22, 2026 Games. Local organizers are sceduled in March to hold a pre-homologation event that will allow them to get athlete feedback.

The IOC previously made clear its preference to have sliding events elsewhere and the New York State Olympic Regional Developmental Authority in 2023 proposed the sliding events be held in Lake Placid, New York, as a solution to the drama in Italy. Along with Lake Placid, proposals were submitted from Austria, Germany and Switzerland. But the Milan-Cortina organizers instead are rebuilding the Cortina track for $86.4 million.

Organizers are also building an ice hockey arena in Milan and the Olympic Village in Cortina; IOC Executive Director Christophe Dubi said those are the projects being watched the closest and there is “good news on these fronts.”

“On one hand, the pressure is mounting as you get pretty close,” Dubi said Tuesday. “It’s also the time where the excitement is rising.”

Milan-Cortina recently announced the route for the torch relay, as the Olympic flame will pass through all 110 provinces in Italy on a 63-day journey. It also has revealed the brand identity as well as the pictograms that will be used.

FIFA/Olympics Twinbill a Potential ‘Feast’

The imminent decision by FIFA to have Saudi Arabia host the 2034 World Cup — potentially putting it in a scheduling conflict with the 2034 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City — was downplayed by Dubi, who instead put it in surprisingly positive terms.

“I think the risk of having those two in parallel is immensely limited,” said Dubi, calling it “a real feast” for sports fans.

Playing a World Cup in January 2022 was not an option when Qatar needed to find cooler months and the IOC made it clear that January was too close to the 2022 Games in Beijing. The 2022 World Cup was instead played in November and December that year.

The 48-team, 104-game World Cup format takes 38 days to play. The IOC and Salt Lake aim to have the 2034 Games Opening Ceremony on February 10.

“From all standpoints, including a commercial one, we have actually virtually no risk,” Dubi said. “… On the contrary, it’s a lot of sport in the time frame.”

News And Notes

• IOC leadership may say it is impartial in the race to succeed IOC President Thomas Bach but it again criticized World Athletics and by extension Sebastian Coe, the organization’s president, for its decision to award $50,000 for every track-and-field winner at the Games in Paris. Coe is one of seven candidates in the presidential race and regarded as one of (if not the) most qualified successors to Bach. Spokesman Mark Adams said Tuesday the IOC’s executive board discussed the topic and “it was felt by the executive board that this goes against the mission of the International Olympic Committee, and it could very easily downgrade the Olympic Games to an elitist event.”
• IOC Sport Director Kit McConnell reaffirmed the IOC has to recognize a new international federation for boxing to be on the program for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Such recognition needs to be made at the 2025 IOC Session; World Boxing has been lobbying for recognition after the IBA’s expulsion from the Olympic movement. Bach said Thursday “in this moment, it looks like the only probability is World Boxing” to be a recognized international federation and added “it cannot be the IBA. That story is over.”
• A review of which sports will be featured at the 2030 Winter Games in France will be decided by the end of 2025. Seven sports are on the initial program — biathlon, bobsled, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing — and the host organizing committee has the opportunity to propose additional sports.
• The IOC this year sealed a 12-year deal for Saudi Arabia to host the new Esports Olympics. The organizational model will be different than what the IOC does for the Olympic Games, Bach said, with a joint organizing committee between the IOC and Saudi Olympic Committee with three representatives from each governing body.
• Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic is the presumptive host of the 2027 IOC Session with an official vote scheduled in March.