A total of seven bids were initially submitted for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Four of the bids were subsequently withdrawn after entering the candidature stage, leaving Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy and Stockholm–Åre, Sweden as the only two remaining candidate bids. Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo was elected as the host city at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 June 2019.
Bidding process.
The IOC Executive Board met in Lausanne to discuss the 2026 bidding process on 9 June 2017; and a new approach was approved at the Extraordinary IOC Session on 11–12 July 2017. The IOC would take a more proactive role in assisting and supporting cities considering a candidature for the 2026 Olympics, and would customise its approach to the needs of the cities in order for them to develop the best value proposition. These measures were designed to lead to a simplified process for the cities, with reduced costs. The Invitation Phase had been extended to one year, starting 13 September 2017, and the Candidature Phase has been shortened to one year, starting from 2018 to 2019. These measures were enacted due to a lack of interest in bidding for the 2026 Games well into 2017.
IOC's 2026 Evaluation Commission.
In October 2018, the IOC appointed the following members and stakeholder representatives to the Evaluation Commission that will assess the candidate cities for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo was selected as host city of the 2026 Winter Olympics after beating Stockholm–Åre by 13 votes on 24 June 2019 at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland. The host city was originally due to be selected on 11 September 2019, at the 134th IOC Session in Milan; however, IOC rules required that the election be moved to a different location after Italy submitted a bid for the 2026 Games that included the city.
Final selection process.
The IOC voted to select the host city of the 2026 Winter Olympics on 24 June 2019 at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Criteria.
A firm criterion for the Winter Olympics is the availability of alpine ski slopes of certain sizes, which narrows down potential locations significantly, and often necessitates locations in less populated areas. The men's downhill requires at least altitude difference along a course of around in length.
For the 2026 Winter Olympics the IOC allowed a longer distance between events, so that alpine skiing can be held in a mountain area, and sports such as ice hockey and figure skating can be held in a large city more than away where such arenas are already available or have greater usage after the games.
A certain spectator capacity is required, which is most often 10,000 but varies according to the particular sport. Furthermore, certain VIP areas are required at every venue.
Candidate cities.
On 2 July 2018, the IOC announced that it would contribute US$925 million to the host city in order to help reduce costs.
Cities in dialogue stage.
The following cities participated in the dialogue stage. Four of these (Calgary, Sapporo, Sion, and Stockholm) joined the dialogue stage at its launch on 29 September 2017, and took part in the PyeongChang 2018 Observer Programme. The other cities joined in time for the deadline (31 March 2018) for entering the candidature stage.
Cities in candidature stage.
Three of the four cities that still remained in the dialogue stage in October 2018 were invited by the IOC to join the candidature stage; these were Calgary, Stockholm, and the joint Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo bid. Erzurum was the only city remaining in the dialogue stage that was not invited to advance. Calgary withdrew its bid on 19 November 2018, and Stockholm created a joint bid with Åre on 11 January 2019 to become Stockholm–Åre 2026.
The candidate cities were required to fulfill their governmental requirements by 11 January 2019.
Withdrawn from dialogue stage.
The following cities were seen as potential bids and took part in the dialogue stage, but have withdrawn for various reasons.
Previously interested in bidding.
The following cities initially explored the possibility of bidding but decided not to proceed to the dialogue stage.
Quebec City initially expressed interest in bidding. In September 2011, Quebec City mayor Régis Labeaume ruled out bidding for 2022. However, the city may bid for another Winter Games in the future. Then-IOC President Jacques Rogge stated that he believes that the 2026 Winter Olympics would be a realistic option for the city to organise the Games. Quebec has a problem finding a mountain for the downhill event, as the planned location of Le Massif was not approved. In September 2015, during an interview on Radio-Canada, Labeaume ruled out any possibility of Quebec making a bid for 2026. Labeaume also attempted, but failed, to create a joint bid with Calgary, Canada; Vancouver, Canada; or Lake Placid, United States. Calgary's Mayor Naheed Nenshi had confirmed his city, the 1988 host, were pondering a bid, but the talks on a joint effort appear to have collapsed.
On 9 February 2018, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) ruled out a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics and would instead consider bids for the 2030 Winter Olympics:
* Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Boston was actively considering a bid for the 2026 Winter Games. This campaign was dropped when Boston was named by the USOC as the United States' candidate city for the 2024 Summer Olympics. However, due to significant public opposition, Boston's campaign for the 2024 Summer Games was later dropped and Los Angeles was chosen as the USOC bid city. (Los Angeles was later awarded the 2028 Games as part of a deal to grant Paris the 2024 event.)
* Bozeman, Montana, United States
The Big Sky Committee for the Winter Games was seeking to bring the Olympics to the Bozeman and Big Sky areas of southwest Montana, immediately north of Yellowstone National Park. The committee, however, has not sought the bid since 2014.
* Lake Placid, New York, United States
Lake Placid, the host of the 1932 Winter Olympics and the 1980 Winter Olympics considered a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics, but had to drop out when the USOC decided not to launch a bid for the 2026 Games.
* Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Salt Lake City, the host of the 2002 Winter Olympics, had been considering launching a bid to host the Winter Games for a second time, originally as early as 2022. It was not clear whether Salt Lake City was planning to submit a bid for the 2026 or 2030 Olympics, but it would be dependent on which other cities submitted bids. One obstacle for a bid from Salt Lake City is the fact that Los Angeles will be hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics. The US last hosted back-to-back editions of the Olympics in 1980 (Lake Placid Winter Games) and 1984 (Los Angeles Summer Games). LA 2028 President, Casey Wasserman, stated that an attempt for the United States to host the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics would "require a lot of conversation" with the Californian city before a bid was formally launched. The USOC was expected to discuss possible bids for the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games at its board meeting in late October. On 16 October 2017, leaders of Salt Lake City and Utah announced the formation of an official Olympic Exploratory Committee. According to sources, Salt Lake City appeared to be more focused on the 2030 Games and the USOC is monitoring the process to see if the IOC will award both the 2026 and 2030 Winter Games at the 134th IOC Session in Milan, Italy in September 2019, repeating the dual allocation of the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games to Paris and Los Angeles. Later this session has been moved to Lausanne due to surprise Italian bid by just Milan with few other places in the country. On December 14th, 2018, Salt Lake City was selected by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) for a potential bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2030.
Almaty was reportedly considering a bid to host the 2026 Winter Games after narrowly losing to Beijing in its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. However, Bauyrzhan Baibek, Mayor of Almaty, denied the rumors of Almaty bidding to host the 2026 Winter Olympics.
On 17 February 2016, the "Tiroler Tageszeitung" wrote in an article that IOC president Thomas Bach asked the alpine city for an application for the 2026 Winter Olympics. He said that an event such as this would not only be celebrated, but lived. If applying, the host of the 1964 Winter Olympics, the 1976 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics would reuse many of the sites that were used in past games. In October 2016, the Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC) agreed to carry out a feasibility study into whether they should launch a bid. On 6 December 2016, the ÖOC commissioned a working group including renowned companies to conduct a feasibility study with results published on 22 June 2017. The study proposes to use facilities at venues across all of Tyrol: Innsbruck, Igls, Kühtai, St. Anton am Arlberg, Hochfilzen, and Seefeld. The two ice hockey venues were to be determined, as was the possibility of using the existing speed skating rink in Inzell in Germany. 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of Innsbruck's 1976 Winter Olympics. Innsbruck could be the first city to host the Winter Olympics three times. A referendum vote in Innsbruck was set for 15 October 2017 to decide whether to proceed with the bid. In the referendum, the bid was defeated as 53 percent voted against it. This was the third successive defeat of an Olympic bid by a vote after Kraków and Munich 2022 and Hamburg 2024, while Budapest and Rome 2024 withdrew to avoid a referendum.
The mayor of Altenberg, Thomas Kirsten, brought Dresden up for discussion in November 2013, after the Bavarians rejected a Munich bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. But the German Olympic Sports Confederation decided not to consider a bid since the lack of alpine skiing resorts would have made it necessary to use Czech venues.
A public debate is promoted by a citizens' committee in the Italian region of Mont Blanc, in order to promote Aosta as the host of the Winter Olympics in 2026 or later. The idea was to build support among the citizens and promote the Games from the bottom up, to build a consensus supporting the effort. The Aosta Valley region's economy is mainly based on winter sports. Starting from the 1970s the main winter resorts hosted world events: Courmayeur hosted a round of the 1977 Alpine Skiing World Cup, Cervinia a round of the 1978 Alpine Skiing World Cup, La Thuile a round of the 2016 Alpine Skiing World Cup and bobsleigh's FIBT World Championships 1971, Cogne a round of the 1984–85 FIS Cross-Country World Cup and a round of 2006–07 FIS Cross-Country World Cup and Fénis hosted in the 1986 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships. In 1991, the city made a bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics but lost to Nagano, so a 2026 bid would be the city's second attempt. In 1993 Aosta hosted the first edition of the winter European Youth Olympic Festival and in 2010 it hosted the first edition of the Winet Military World Games. The Aosta bid was cancelled when it was announced that the city of Milan will be the host city of the 134th IOC Session to decide the host city, and IOC regulations state that no bid from a country is allowed when the IOC session is in the same country.
* Lillehammer, Norway
On 6 April 2017, it was announced that Lillehammer was considering a bid for the Winter Olympics in 2026 or 2030. Lillehammer was host of the 1994 Winter Olympics and the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics. A feasibility report was published in March. It could share an Olympic bid with Norwegian cities like Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim, according to Norwegian media. However, no further information was released about the bid as the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports selected the southern Norwegian county of Telemark. On 8 March 2018, Lillehammer renewed its bid to host the Games.
It was confirmed on 30 March 2018 that Lillehammer had ruled out a bid for the 2026 Games, but were likely to target the 2030 Games instead.
* Telemark, Norway
On 31 October 2017, it was announced at a press conference at the top of Mount Gausta that the southern Norwegian