Swedish Bid Fits Olympic Agenda 2020

(ATR) The IOC Evaluation Commission made the three-hour drive from Stockholm to Falunon Thursday. The Lugnet Ski Stadium was the destination for this third day of their inspection of the Stockholm-Åre 2026 Winter Olympic bid.

"It is indeed a challenge, but it is also an occasion for me and my team to get a first-hand look at the venues and prospective venues," said Octavian Morariu, the commission chair. "It’s a big opportunity for us to learn about the bid and to understand the vision.

"Personally, I’m very happy to see that our direction of sustainability and legacy are a very strong part of the bid."

Falun is a mecca for cross-country skiing and ski jumping in Sweden with a history dating back seven decades. The Swedish winter sports city will once again host the world’s top Nordic skiers at the upcoming FIS World Cup Finals this weekend.

The former mining town has been home to four FIS Nordic World Championships, as recently as 2015 and as long ago as 1954. The proposed venue cluster for Sweden’s bid is located 233-kilometers northwest of Stockholm. It takes slightly less than three hours via train.

Ski jumping and Nordic combined events will be held in Falun.

While Sweden’s national cross-country center is here, a new venue will be built for the Olympic cross-country races in Hamra, located just about 20 kilometers southwest of Stockholm.

"We have the most challenging cross-country courses on the World Cup, so when we learned we would not have them here (in 2026), we wondered ‘why?’" said Anders Hansson, a Swedish Nordic skiing journalist and curator of the ski jumping museum in Falun.

"In Stockholm, there is a big lack of the opportunity to go skiing," Brisius tells Around the Rings. "We have this wonderful venue in Stockholm which is the old quarry in Hamra, that we built for a legacy of a ski track system and that’s where we will have the competition."

"We would be really happy if we had the cross-country, but we are just as happy to be part of the concept," said Joakim Stork, the Mayor of Falun. "Of course, if we had the opportunity, we wouldn’t say no."

The Stockholm Venue Plan

The Stockholm 2026 venue plan is unlike any other ever put forward in Winter Olympic bidding.

It consistsof four clusters and four Olympic villages. Major venues are extremely spread out. The Alpine ski resort of Åre, which hosted the FIS world championships in February, is more than 600 kilometers away – a 60-minute flight and 80-minute drive from Stockholm.

The lengthy distances from the Swedish capital to both Are and Falun present, and the four Olympic villages for a Winter Games, are unprecedented.

"What you will see here, being in Are, Falun or Stockholm is that you have the athletes close by," Morariu said, referring to the bid’s four proposed Olympic villages. "And all the others, you and us, yes, we will travel."

The Stockholm 2026 venue plan consists of 12 competition venues – eight existing, two of which need substantial renovation. Three new venues and one temporary venue will be developed. And Stockholm’s 1912 Olympic Stadium will feature prominently as a historic setting for snowboard and freestyle skiing ‘Big Air’ events.

Additionally, in a cost-saving measure, considering the exorbitant costs associated with maintaining and operating bobsleigh and luge tracks, the Stockholm 2026 sliding events will be held on the other side of the Baltic Sea, in Sigulda, Latvia, some 571 kilometers away. It will entail a 70-minute flight from Stockholm, followed by an 80-minute drive.

Stockholm’s iconic Globe Arena – where men’s ice hockey will take place – will undergo a major facelift in the coming years, however Swedish officials insist it will occur regardless of the outcome of the 2026 bid.

Interestingly, Falun is remembered dubiously for having lost three Winter Olympic bids as the primary candidate city. Prior to the IOC vote for the 1992 Games, a local newspaper even prematurely released editions showing the Falun bid leader celebrating.

Regarding the widespread venue plan and considerable distances that will need to be negotiated, Morariu said the IOC must cater to bid cities’ needs.

"You know, we always, under this philosophy of the IOC, adapting to the cities is very important and in this respect we believe in having these different clusters – this is the way for Sweden to go on that pathway," he said.

Activities continue in Stockholm on Friday morning with an open seminar between the IOC Evaluation Commission and Stockholm 2026 Candidature Committee. The open seminar is a first for an Olympic bid. A similar event is on the schedule in April when the IOC commission heads to Milan, the other candidate in the running for 2026.

The commission visit ends March 16.

Reported in Falun by Brian Pinelli .