The IOC is now reviewing Olympic Games issues in the first year of Kirsty Coventry’s presidency and changing the winter edition dates is an option.
“Maybe we are also discussing to bring the Winter Olympics a little bit earlier,” the IOC member overseeing the sports program review, Karl Stoss, told reporters. “To do it in January because it has an implication for the Paralympics as well.”
The Milan Cortina Paralympic Winter Games will be held March 6-15.
The IOC has long acknowledged under Coventry's predecessor Thomas Bach that changing climate is a challenge for finding future hosts and organizing competitions.
“(March) is very late because the sun is strong enough to melt the snow,” said Stoss, whose home country Austria is a traditional power in Alpine skiing and ski jumping.
“Maybe the Paralympics will be in February and the other edition will be in January. That would also be a part of our discussion,” he said on the sidelines of the IOC’s eve-of-Olympics meeting in Milan.
The 100-plus IOC members should meet again in June to make decisions about the Olympic reviews, in a program called “Fit For The Future,” and whether to add new sports and events to the 2030 French Alps Winter Games.
The French Alps edition is currently expected to run Feb. 1-17 and the 2034 Utah Winter Games from Feb. 10–26.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics