IOC confirms Lyon to host 2030 Winter Olympic Games ice sports competitions

GENEVA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday confirmed that ice sports competitions at the 2030 Winter Olympic Games will be staged in Lyon, with some Alpine skiing events to be held in the French resorts of Courchevel and Val d'Isere.

A view of the Bellevarde course, at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Val d'Isere, France, on Feb, 1, 2009. (File photo: AP)

The IOC Coordination Commission held its second annual meeting after visiting venues in Lyon to finalize the sports venue master plan, following the IOC Executive Board's June decision to relocate the ice cluster to Lyon and allocate two Alpine skiing venues to the Savoie cluster.

Ice hockey will be held at the Decines-Charpieu Arena and Hall Tony Garnier, while curling, figure skating and short track will take place at the Eurexpo Convention Center in Lyon. A housing development project in Oullins-Pierre-Benite was also confirmed as the Olympic Village in Lyon.

Courchevel will host the downhill and super-G, while Val d'Isere will stage the giant slalom and slalom. The women's and men's team combined events will take place in Courchevel.

Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, chair of the IOC Coordination Commission, said the site visits and discussions demonstrated "real progress" by the organizing committee and that the Games now has "a clear vision, a striking visual identity, a compelling sports program, an optimized venue plan and solid economic foundations."

"The delegation was able to assess the quality of the work carried out by the Committee in recent months and fully appreciate the potential of its five outstanding clusters: Lyon, Haute-Savoie, Savoie, the Brianconnais region and Thialf in the Netherlands, with particular attention given to the ice venues and infrastructure," said Vincent Roberti, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of 2030 Winter Olympics.

The 2030 Olympic Winter Games will take place from Feb. 1 to 17, followed by the Paralympic Winter Games from March 1 to 10.