the French Alps candidates for the organization of the 2030 Winter Games

France will remain set to Olympic time for a few more years. Six years after Paris 2024, France hopes to make its Alps the big meeting place for the white circus in 2030. The French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) announced on Tuesday October 7 that it was officially a candidate to host the Olympic Games and 2030 Winter Paralympics (February 8 to 24). These could succeed those of 2026 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

The events would be contested jointly in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur regions. The different sites would be distributed from North to South of the French Alps into four major centers: Nice Côte d’Azur, Briançonnais, Savoie and Haute-Savoie. Never before has a candidacy proposed a “such a large site”, welcomed David Lappartient, president of the CNOSF.

Laurent Wauquiez and Renaud Muselier, the presidents of the two regions, promised and repeated that it would be “Sober games”, aware of ecological issues, ensuring that this application would be “respectful of the environment” And “part of a lasting legacy”. “Our application is based on 95% already existing infrastructure, almost all of Albertville’s infrastructure will be used. They have all been kept almost in good condition, they can all be used and rehabilitated.” underlined the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez. However, an ice rink will be built in Nice. The file was therefore submitted on Tuesday to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which will give elected officials and organizers a grand oral presentation on November 21 in Paris.

Then one of the candidates will move on to “targeted dialogue” with the IOC on December 1, giving a serious indication of the future winner. “We will refine the cost of these Olympics during the targeted dialogue”, promised David Lappartient, while an initial budget of 1.5 billion euros had been announced. The final decision is therefore expected in 2024 (summer or autumn) while Sweden, whose candidacy was not accepted for the 2026 edition, and Switzerland, are also candidates.

Courchevel-Méribel act II, Nordic skiing near Annecy

In detail, in the city of Nice and its surroundings, we will find an Olympic village (one in each pole), the main media center, a majority of ice disciplines (figure skating, short-track, curling, hockey) but also the skicross and snowboardcross events, in the Isola 2000 resort. A little further north, in Briançonnais, the Serre Chevalier resort will host a good part of the freestyle (snowboarding and skiing), while the skiing and snow half- pipe will be held in particular in Montgenèvre.

For its part, Savoie will welcome all alpine skiing with a return to Courchevel-Méribel, theater of the 2023 World Championships, where the famous slopes of Eclipse (men) and Roc de Fer (women) will once again be available. honor. The slaloms will also be contested in Val d’Isère, on the Bellevarde face, regularly on the men’s World Cup program. Finally, while bobsleigh, skeleton and luge will compete in the only French bob stadium in La Plagne, Nordic skiing will take place in Haute-Savoie, very close to Annecy, in Grand Bornand (biathlon) and in La Clusaz (cross-country skiing and Nordic skiing). Finally, the springboard built for the Albertville Olympics, in Courchevel, will be reused for ski jumping.

For speed skating, which requires a 400m indoor oval track, two options are still on the table. The construction of such a site in France being excluded by David Lappartient, president of the CNOSF, the choice could turn to a temporary site installed in an exhibition center in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, without specifying the city, or choose a site abroad. The choice, recalls David Lappartient, will be discussed in the “targeted dialogue” with the IOC.

Furthermore, the opening ceremony will take place in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, “with a new formula”, not confined to a single stadium, announced Laurent Wauquiez, without further details. The closing ceremony will take place in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region.

Towards a double allocation for 2030 and 2034?

The IOC should also jointly award two editions of the Winter Games, those of 2030 and 2034, if the potential hosts meet all the criteria. This dual attribution, like the simultaneous designation in 2017 of Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 for the Summer Games, had been considered since last year and was formally approved by the 141st session of the IOC meeting in Bombay ( India), less than a month ago. For the French candidacy, the choice is only for 2030 and not for 2034, Salt Lake City (Utah) being in a good position to win, indicated David Lappartient.

By aiming for entry into “targeted dialogue” from the end of November, the IOC can hope to designate the two host cities in the summer of 2024. The idea of ​​the double attribution is to offer “from security to the Olympic movement in uncertain economic times”and to ensure that the hosts will be “climatically reliable” until 2034, argued Karl Stoss, president of the IOC Commission for the future host of the Winter Games.