France 2030, Salt Lake City 2034 take penultimate step towards hosting Games

LAUSANNE, Switzerland :France 2030 and Salt Lake City 2034 got the nod from the International Olympic Committee's executive board on Wednesday, the penultimate step towards becoming Olympic winter Games hosts, the IOC said.

The bids will now await a vote of the Olympic body's session in Paris on July 24, Karl Stoss who heads the IOC's future host commission said, in what is largely a rubberstamping of the executive board's recommendation.

The French bid still needs to deliver some guarantees before the vote that could not be delivered on time due to the political situation in the country with legislative elections called last week.

One of the guarantees still to be delivered is the public partnership contribution from the two regions involved, Stoss said.

"We are very confident that both guarantees will come earlier than the IOC session," he said. "We are in very close contact with the government and the presidents of the two regions."

"They told us 'we have this situation that elections are coming in June and then July 7. Between July 7 and the session we will reach confirmation of the guarantees'. This is very clear for us," Stoss said.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday called a snap parliamentary election in a few weeks' time after the anti-immigration, eurosceptic National Rally came out on top in a vote for the European Parliament.

The two sites had already been picked as the only preferred bidders for their respective Games in November 2023.

The French bid, which involves the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur regions, has scored points for its plan to hold the Games in four separate clusters as well as for its strong support from the public and private sector.

Should it be approved by the