International Olympic Committee members will decide Monday between bids by Stockholm/Are and Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo in the race to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
The vote to choose a winner from the Swedish and Italianrivals is expected to be closer than the 2015 vote when Beijing beat the Kazakhcity Almaty to land the 2022 Winter Games.
On the road to the 2026 decision, bids from Calgary, Graz inAustria, Japan’s Sapporo and Sion in Switzerland have fallen by the wayside,mainly because of concerns over the cost or a lack of popular support.
A bid by the Turkish ski resort of Erzurum was ruled out bythe IOC in October 2018.
The bid by Stockholm and the Are ski area — which hostedthe World Ski Championships in February — appeared to be running out of steama few months ago due to a lack of funding commitments, but the government hasnow swung behind it.
Italy has twice hosted the Winter Olympics — in 1956 inCortina d’Ampezzo and 2006 in Turin.Sweden has only hosted the Summer Olympics, in1912 in Stockholm.