The2030 Winter Olympics (French:Jeux olympiques d'hiver de 2030), officially known as theXXVI Olympic Winter Games[3] (French:XXVIes Jeux Olympiques d'hiver) and branded asFrench Alps 2030 (French:Alpes Françaises 2030), is an upcoming internationalmulti-sport event scheduled to take place from 1 to 17 February 2030 in theFrench Alps region of France.
As part of the new Olympic bid process, the Future Host Commission of theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) nominated the French Alps as its preferred candidate on 29 November 2023. The French Alps' bid was approved during the142nd IOC Session inParis on 24 July 2024.
The newIOC bidding process was approved at the134th IOC Session on 24 June 2019 inLausanne, Switzerland. The key proposals, driven by the relevant recommendations from Olympic Agenda 2020, are:[4][5]
Establish a permanent, ongoing dialogue to explore and create interest among cities/regions/countries and National Olympic Committees for any Olympic event
Create two Future Host Commissions (Summer andWinter Games) to oversee interest in future Olympic events and report to the IOC executive board
Give the IOC Session more influence by having non-executive board members form part of the Future Host Commissions.
The IOC also modified theOlympic Charter to increase its flexibility in choosing hosts by making the date of elections more flexible and allowing multiple cities, regions, or countries to host instead of only single cities, regions or countries.
According to the Future Host Commission's rules of conduct, the new IOC bidding system is divided into two dialogue stages:[6]
Continuous dialogue involving non-committal discussions between the IOC and interested parties (City/Region/Country/NOC interested in hosting) with regard to hosting future Olympic events.
Targeted dialogue with one or more interested parties—called preferred host(s)—as instructed by the IOC Executive Board. This follows a recommendation by the Future Host Commission as a result of continuous dialogue.
On 29 November 2023, per the recommendation of the Future Host Commission, the IOC Executive Board invited theFrench National Olympic and Sports Committee to targeted dialogue proposing that the 2030 Winter Olympics be held in the French Alps.[7]
The French Alps were conditionally ratified as hosts during the142nd IOC Session on 24 July 2024 inParis, France;[8][9] as per the new bid process, the vote was in the form of areferendum to the 95 IOC delegates.[8][10][11] The decision to award the Games was made under the condition that financial guarantees from federal and state governments be secured by October 2024; usually, these are secured as part of the bid process, but this was hindered by theFrench political crisis and2024 French legislative elections.[12]
In October 2024, then-prime ministerMichel Barnier sent a letter to IOC presidentThomas Bach to confirm the French government's financial support.[12]
The impacts ofclimate change have become a central focus of the International Olympic Committee in planning the Winter Olympics. According to the IOC, the number ofNOCs capable of hosting the Winter Olympics—which require access to snow competition venues with adequate temperature and snowfall—has declined to "practically just 10-12".[13]
As a result of these challenges, the decision on the 2030 Winter Olympics host city was delayed until 24 July 2024 to allow the IOC more time to carefully plan the future of the Winter Olympics.[14][15] The Games' budget is an estimated $4.04 billion USD.[16] The president of the Games' organising committee, former OlympianEdgar Grospiron, was appointed in 2025. The organising committee has been plagued with infighting, with the Games' director general, chief operating officer, communications director, and chief of the remuneration committee resigning between 2025 and 2026.[17][18]
The only sport that does not yet have a confirmed venue is long-track speed skating; in April 2025, Grospiron toldLe 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".[24] The committee has explored various options, including renovating existing facilities inAlbertville orGrenoble, or hosting the event outside of the country at eitherOval Lingotto inTurin, Italy (which previously hosted long-track speed skating at the2006 Winter Olympics, and is the closest venue outside of the host regions),[25][26] orThialf inHeerenveen, Netherlands.[27][26][28]
TheInternational Olympic Committee approved the initial sports programme at the142nd IOC Session: biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating, and skiing. The disciplines in each sport will be determined in late 2025,[32] and is planned to be confirmed at the 145th IOC Session in Milan, Italy.[33]
Various sanctioning bodies have announced plans to pursue bids for sports to be added to the 2030 Winter Olympics:
On 1 November 2024, theInternational Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced they were preparing to bid for the inclusion of 3x3 ice hockey, which is a discipline that has been used at theWinter Youth Olympics since2020.[34] If selected, the sport's venue could be a new €58 million ice hockey arena being built inChamonix.[35]
TheUCI is pursuing the addition ofcyclo-cross, whileWorld Athletics is pursuing the revival ofcross country running for the first time since1924.[36][37][38] In June 2025, the Departmental Council ofHaute-Saône suggested thatLa Planche des Belles Filles (which has been used as part of theTour de France route since 2012) would be used as the site for cyclo-cross if approved. Organising committee president Michel Barnier has supported the inclusion of cyclo-cross, while World Athletics presidentSebastian Coe stated that cross-country running would provide new opportunities for African athletes to win a Winter Olympic medal for the first time. TheWinter Olympic Federations (WOF) voiced opposition to the two sports, arguing that they did not constitute "snow and ice sports" as required by the Olympic Charter, and that their inclusion could "dilute" the heritage and identity of the Winter Olympics; both sports are typically held in the autumn and winter months and have been contested in winter conditions.[33][39][40][41]
In France, pay television and streaming rights are owned byWarner Bros. Discovery viaEurosport,[45] with free-to-air coverage owned byFrance Télévisions under a sublicense agreement with theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU).[46] On 16 January 2023, the IOC announced that it had renewed its European broadcast rights agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery. The agreement, covering from 2026 to 2032, includes pay television and streaming rights to the Summer, Winter, and Youth Olympics on Eurosport andDiscovery+ in 49 European territories. Free-to-air rights packages were concurrently awarded to the EBU and its members to cover at least 100 hours of each Winter Olympics,[45] with EBU member France Télévisions agreeing to broadcast the Games in France.[46]
^"ORF sichert sich Rechte bis 2032" [ORF secures rights until 2032].Sport ORF (in German). 16 January 2023.Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved16 January 2023.
^Birgisson, Gunnar (17 January 2023)."Ólympíuleikar á RÚV til 2032" [Olympic Games on RÚV until 2032] (in Icelandic). RÚV.Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved17 January 2023.
^"OL tilbake på NRK fra 2026" [The Olympics back on NRK from 2026].NRK (in Norwegian). 16 January 2023.Archived from the original on 20 February 2024. Retrieved16 January 2023.
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