IOC approves French Alps as host of 2030 Winter Olympics

The Games will be held over part of the world’s largest interconnected ski area, which covers 600km of runs between Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens.

French President Emmanuel Macron, center, reacts with French officials after the French Alps was named as the 2030 Winter Games host, during the 142nd IOC session at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday. | Photo Credit: AP

The French Alps have been selected to host the 2030 Winter Olympics the International Olympic Committee confirmed on Wednesday.

The Games will be held over part of the world’s largest interconnected ski area, which covers 600km of runs between Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens.

Sports will be organised in four clusters, in Haute-Savoie, Savoie, Briançon and Nice, from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean Sea, to use as many existing venues as possible.

“The vision of the Games is to unite the north and south French Alps and make them a hub for winter sport, to bring maximum social and economic benefits to communities across a wide geographical area while aligning the Games with local development plans and Olympic Agenda 2020 and 2020+5,” the IOC said in a statement.

There are plans to host the French Alps 2030 Closing Ceremony on the world-famous, seven-kilometre-long Promenade des Anglais along the Mediterranean coast. Such a ceremony, outside a stadium like the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony, would be a first for the Olympic Winter Games.