The 2030 Winter Olympics (), officially known as the XXVI Olympic Winter Games () and branded as Alpes 2030, is an upcoming international winter multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 1 to 17 February 2030 in the French Alps region as main hosts.
As part of the new Olympic bid process, the Future Host Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) nominated the French Alps as its preferred candidate on 29 November 2023. The French Alps' bid was approved during the 142nd IOC Session in Paris, France ahead to the 2024 Summer Olympics on 24 July 2024. These will be the first Olympic Games to be officially hosted by a region rather than a host city.After Milan Cortina, French Alps prepare to host 2030 Winter Olympics, NBC Olympics, 17 February 2026.
The events will take place in two French regions, mainly in the Metropolis of Lyon and in the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, as well as in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Speed skating is scheduled to be held in Heerenveen, Netherlands. These will be the fourth Winter Olympics, and the seventh Olympic Games overall, to be hosted by France.
Bidding process Under the new bidding process established under Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC's Future Host Commission (FHC) for the Winter Olympic Games engages in ongoing, non-committal "continuous dialogue" with parties that are interested in hosting a future edition. The Commission then recommends preferred candidates to be invited to "targeted dialogue" with the IOC Executive Board to formalise their bid, after which it is presented to the IOC's delegates for final approval.
During the 135th IOC Session in January 2020, FHC chair Octavian Morariu identified that Barcelona—Zaragoza, Salt Lake City (which hosted in 2002, but was understood to prefer to host the 2034 so that it would not take place immediately after the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles), and Sapporo (which hosted in 1972) had entered into continuous dialogue regarding hosting a future Winter Olympics in 2030 or later. Spain dropped out in 2022 amid disputes between the autonomous Catalonian and Aragonian governments. In March 2023, Switzerland revealed that it had entered into continuous dialogue. In July 2023, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee announced its intent to enter into continuous dialogue with the FHC for a bid focusing on the French Alps. Sweden also proposed a Stockholm–Åre bid, after the cities lost the 2026 Games to Milan–Cortina.
On 29 November 2023, per the recommendation of the Future Host Commission, the IOC Executive Board invited the French National Olympic and Sports Committee to targeted dialogue, proposing the French Alps as preferred host of the 2030 Winter Olympics. Switzerland would enter into "privileged dialogue" for potentially hosting in 2038. The French Alps were conditionally ratified as hosts during the 142nd IOC Session on 24 July 2024 in Paris, France; as per the new bid process, the vote was in the form of a referendum to the 95 IOC delegates.
The decision to award the Games was made under the condition that financial guarantees from the French government and local authorities be secured by October 2024; usually, these are secured as part of the bid process, but this was hindered by the then-ongoing French political crisis following the 2024 French legislative election. In October 2024, prime minister Michel Barnier sent a letter to IOC president Thomas Bach to confirm the French government's financial support.
+ 2030 Winter Olympics host city election Host NOC name Yes No French Alps8447
Handover ceremony During the 2026 Winter Olympics closing ceremony in Verona, Italy, the French Alps were introduced as the next Winter Games host region, with the raising of the flag of France and a special performance of "La Marseillaise" in the arena.
Development and preparations Venues The venues of the Games will be split between clusters in Lyon, Briançon, Haute-Savoie, and Savoie. Five Olympic villages are slated to be constructed for the Games, with one each in Lyon (in the suburb of Oullins-Pierre-Bénite), Briançon, and Haute-Savoie, and two in Savoie (locations to be determined).
In March 2026, it was reported that president of the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Renaud Muselier had threatened to withdraw Nice, have their events held in Lyon instead if newly elected mayor of Nice, Éric Ciotti does not accept to the original plans. Renaud had considered Parc Olympique Lyonnais to host the opening and closing ceremonies, the neighbouring LDLC Arena hosting ice hockey, and Eurexpo hosting the rest of the ice sports. On 1 April, the recently reelected mayor of Lyon, Grégory Doucet, would announce that his city was ready to host ice sports. One day later, the president of the regional council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fabrice Pannekoucke, denounced Grégory's "cuckoo approach".
On 28 April 2026, the organising committee announced that after exploring the possibility of having ice hockey held on temporary rinks at Allianz Riviera (as doing such would require its tennant, OGC Nice, to vacate for up to nine months), as well as Stade Charles-Ehrmann and , and determining them to be too costly or logistically challenging to implement, they would move the matches to existing venues outside of Nice. A bidding phase was launched two days later; Lyon and Paris expressed interest prior, while Albertville, Gap, Grenoble and Marseille were invited to bid. During a meeting in May 2026, the IOC warned the organisers that they would step in and remove ice hockey from Nice if the men's and women's events were to be geographically dispersed, in the consideration of minimising travel and carbon emissions. This reprimand occurred after the International Ice Hockey Federation complained about the distance between venues.
On 29 May 2026, the organising committee announced that Lyon was now "the best solution" to host ice events after Nice mayor Eric Ciotti rejecting the conversion of Allianz Riviera for ice hockey, and pressure from the IOC to adopt a more compact venue cluster. Meanwhile in June 2026, a tentative Lyon venue plan was announced, with LDLC Arena and Eurexpo listed for ice hockey, Halle Tony Garnier for figure skating and short-track speed skating, and Palais des Sports de Gerland for curling. The final venue plan will be announced later in 2026. On 22 June 2026, the IOC Executive Board approved the first set of changes to the venue masterplan. The board also approved hosting long-track speed skating at Thialf. On 16 September, the final venue masterplan was approved. In Lyon Metropolis, Halle Tony Garnier would now host preliminary ice hockey games, and figure skating and short-track speed skating would be moved to Eurexpo. In addition, the events for alpine skiing were allocated.
Ceremonies venue A venue for the ceremonies has currently not yet been decided, but organising committee head Edgar Grospiron suggested in an interview with Le Monde that the ceremonies may be held in the Metropolis of Lyon; the organising committee's headquarters are based at Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu. The President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Renaud Muselier, had also shared the idea of hosting the closing ceremony at a part of the Lac de Serre-Ponçon, but this has not been looked into by the organising committee.
Towards the end of June 2026, the Mayor of Lyon, Grégory Doucet, suggested having an open-air opening ceremony within the city, similar to what was done in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics.The president of the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Renaud Muselier, also suggeted having the closing ceremony held at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.
Speed skating venue At that time, the only sport that had not yet have a confirmed venue is long-track speed skating; in April 2025, Grospiron told Le Figaro that it would be too expensive to build a new venue for speed skating, and explained that the organising committee was aiming to "reinvent the Games". The committee has explored various options, including renovating existing facilities in Albertville or Grenoble, or hosting the event outside of the country at either Oval Lingotto in Turin, Italy (which previously hosted long-track speed skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and is the closest existing venue outside of the host regions), or Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands. On 11 May 2026, the organising committee decided to pursue exclusive talks with Heerenveen about hosting the speed skating events. On 29 June, Thialf was confirmed as the speed skating venue, meaning that speed skating will take place outside of France.
Lyon Metropolis cluster VenueEventsCapacity StatusLDLC ArenaIce hockey (preliminaries and finals)10,500-11,000ExistingEurexpoFigure skatingTBAExisting with temporary standsShort-track speed skatingCurlingTBAHalle Tony GarnierIce hockey (preliminaries)TBA
Briançon cluster VenueEventsCapacityStatusSerre ChevalierFreestyle skiing (aerials, moguls, big air)3,5005,000Existing, renovatedSnowboarding (big air)MontgenèvreFreestyle skiing (ski cross, halfpipe, slopestyle)3,5005,000Snowboarding (snowboard cross, halfpipe, slopestyle, parallel giant slalom)Ski mountaineering
Savoie cluster
VenueEventsCapacityStatusLa PlagneBobsleigh15,00016,000Existing, renovatedLugeSkeletonCourchevelAlpine skiing (speed)TBAExistingTremplin du PrazSki jumpingTBAVal-d'IsèreAlpine skiing (technical)TBA
Haute-Savoie cluster VenueEventsCapacityStatusLa ClusazCross-country skiing12,500ExistingLe Grand-BornandBiathlon12,00015,000
Outlying venues
City/CountryVenueEventsCapacityStatusHeerenveen, NetherlandsThialfSpeed skating12,500Existing
The Games Qualification
Sports The Games will feature a record 126 medal events in 8 sports comprising 17 disciplines, including 56 events for women, 55 events for men, and 15 mixed events.
At the 142nd IOC Session in July 2024, the IOC's delegates ratified the core Winter Olympic programme of biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating, and skiing. On 9 June 2026, the organising committee proposed the inclusion of ski mountaineering as an optional event, returning from its debut in 2026. The proposal was ratified at the 146th IOC Session on 25 June 2026; individual events will be added alongside the existing sprint and team relay events contested in 2026.
The full event programme was announced on 7 July 2026; several new events and disciplines will be added, including freeride freestyle skiing and snowboard, synchronized skating, single mixed relay in biathlon, mixed team ski cross in freestyle skiing, women's super team in ski jumping, mixed team parallel giant slalom in snowboard, and men's and women's team sprint in speed skating. After having been featured in every Winter Olympics since 1924. Nordic combined was dropped from the Winter Olympics programme due to declining interest.
Proposed events Various sanctioning bodies had announced plans to pursue bids for sports to be added to the 2030 Winter Olympics: On 1 November 2024, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced they were preparing to bid for the inclusion of 3x3 ice hockey, which is a discipline that has been featured in the Winter Youth Olympics since 2020. If selected, the sport's venue could be a new €58 million ice hockey arena being built in Chamonix.