2030 Olympics, Turin in the running for speed skating

Not only Milan-Cortina: Italia could also take part in the 2030 Winter Olympics hosted by the French Alps. The opportunity comes from speed skating, a discipline for which France does not have an indoor facility that meets the requirements demanded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Hence the decision to move the competitions abroad, so as not to have to build an ad hoc facility and increase expenses.

Turin - after missing the chance to join Milan and Cortina in 2026 - has wasted no time, and has applied with the Oval Lingotto, already used for the 2006 Games. But the final decision is yet to come. The Organising Committee of the Winter Olympics in the French Alps has made the necessary inspections of the two sites in the running, that of Turin and the Thialf Arena of Heerenveen, in the Netherlands. A facility, the latter, further away from the other competition sites, but cheaper: it would in fact already be ready to be used thanks to its capacity of 12,500 seats, unlike the Lingotto, which would need approximately 12 million euros of adaptation work.

At the moment, the two contenders are working on a new dossier to be presented to the IOC by the end of the month, which will contain all the structural and organisational details: from the competition arena to transport and the athletes' hospitality. Points, the latter, that reward Turin, thanks to the fast connections with the airport and the metro, which makes it possible to reach the city centre in a few minutes. The delegations, some 300 people including athletes and technicians, would be hosted in the Edisu residence in Lingotto, a short walk from the Oval.

Also playing a role that could prove crucial in the choice of the Piedmontese location are the connecting infrastructure between Italia and France. Last July, for example, saw the opening of the second tube of the Frejus motorway tunnel, which connects Piedmont to Savoy. But that's not all: the renewed agreement between Piedmont's Via Lattea lifts and those of Montgenevre, home of the Olympic snowboard and freestyle competitions, opens up the possibility of skiingwith the same ski-pass on the slopes of the two countries. A collaboration reminiscent of Turin 2006.

Massimo Feira, President of Sestrieres spa, the company that manages the Milky Way facilities in the upper Susa Valley, said he wanted to play the Olympic game: 'It is likely that those who go to Montgenèvre to compete will use our infrastructure. And we do not want to be just a land of passage'. The Unione Montana Comuni Olimpici Via Lattea (Via Lattea Mountain Municipalities Union) has also mobilised, drawing up a memorandum of understanding to pursue common strategies and initiatives in view of the 2030 Olympics.