Olympics – Calgary, Stockholm and Cortina/Milan given nod for 2026 Games bids – IOC

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – The cities of Calgary and Stockholm and an Italian bid involving Cortina D’Ampezzo and Milan were given the green light on Thursday to proceed to bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics, but Turkey’s Erzurum was dropped, the International Olympic Committee said.

The IOC Executive Board decided on the recommendation during a meeting earlier on Thursday and this will now be ratified by the IOC session in the next days.

IOC Vice President Juan Antonio Samaranch praised the three cities that made it to the next phase, saying they had what it took to host “a wonderful” event.

He said the Italian bid, which at one point included Torino before the city pulled out, was still good enough with two locations, even though specific questions of financing have not been settled yet.

“At this stage we have a very solid (Italian) project. Milan and Cortina are presenting a very interesting, attractive project,” Samaranch, who heads the review of the 2026 bidders, told reporters.

“We understand that the government in Rome is fully supportive of the project. Of course we have details to discuss on financing.”

The concept for the Turkish city, however, showed shortcomings in several issues, including transportation, telecommunications and airport infrastructure, Samaranch said.

The three cities are the last of initially seven candidates with Swiss city Sion, Japan’s Sapporo and Graz in Austria pulling out in recent months, scared off by the cost and size as well as local opposition to the big event.

The IOC will elect the winning bid at its session in September 2019 but the decision on Thursday means that the session, which was to be held in Milan, will now be moved to Lausanne to avoid a conflict of interest as the Italian city is also bidding for the 2026 Games.