(ATR) Much like the majority of Stockholm’s city venues, the three additional venue clusters in the Stockholm-Åre 2026 plan are comprised of pre-existing facilities, all of which possess a long history of major events.
Steeped in winter sports tradition and showcasing Sweden’s splendid winter beauty, the picturesque lakeside ski resort of Åre will be home to alpine and freestyle skiing, as well as snowboarding. The quaint village of 11,500 residents is situated 600 kilometers (373 miles) northwest of Stockholm.
Åre hosted the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships in February, the third time the ski resort has held the signature event following 1954 and 2007. It has been a regular stop on the ladies World Cup since 1990.
The Local Organizing Committee demonstrated its expertise and experience, persevering through uncooperative weather conditions at the recent world championship. Participants dealt with minus 20-degree (Celsius) temperatures in the first week, and a sudden change to rainstorms and high winds in plus-temperatures in the second week. The Are 2019 team worked tirelessly to manage the widely varying conditions in order to keep the program on schedule.
"The Åre 2019 Organisers had a lot of adverse weather conditions and challenges to overcome and it is a testament to them that I can declare these world championships a complete success," said FIS president Gian Franco Kasper.
Some 471 skiers representing 75 countries, a new record, raced on Åre’s tracks at the championships. More than 100,000 spectators attended over two weeks of competition.
About eight kilometers (five miles) down the road from Åre in Duved, where the majority of freestyle skiing and snowboarding events would be contested. The lesser-known ski area will be new to hosting world-class events and halfpipe, moguls and slopestyle courses will need to be developed.
According to the IOC Evaluation Commission report, high venue capacities in Åre will need to be re-evaluated in view of potential transport challenges.
Situated 200 kilometers (124 miles) northwest of Stockholm, the city of Falun is a natural choice to host ski jumping and Nordic combined. Falun is a mainstay on the FIS Nordic World Cup and has hosted world championships four times, most recently in 2015. Minimal work will be necessary for the compact venue to host Olympic events.
Many wished that Falun would also host cross-country races on its vast and challenging network of tracks. Instead, architects of the bid opted for a new venue to be built in Hamra, near Stockholm, to provide a legacy venue for recreational skiers. However, should the proposed venue in Hamra face obstacles, Falun and Ostersund, which hosted the world biathlon championships this past winter, could be used.
Not all events will be staged in Sweden. In accordance with the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020 more flexible bidding guidelines, bobsleigh, luge and skeleton is to be contested 460 kilometers (286 miles) away, across the Baltic Sea in Sigulda, Latvia. As Sweden does not currently have a bobsleigh track, the plan to stage sliding events in another country seems to be a prudent financial decision.
The Stockholm-Åre 2026 bid to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to Sweden for the first time aims to be the most sustainable Olympic Games in history. The IOC will choose between Stockholm-Åre, or Sweden’s Italian opponent Milan-Cortina, to host the 2026 Games on June 24 in Lausanne.
Written by Brian Pinelli
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