Winter Olympics 2030: Speed skating to be staged in Turin or Heerenveen as French Alps sites take shape
The organising committee has confirmed that speed skating at the winter olympics 2030 will be held outside host France, using existing arenas in either Turin, northern Italy, or Heerenveen in the Netherlands. The decision reshapes the footprint of the Games as organisers and the International Olympic Committee prioritise pre-existing venues with long-term legacy rather than new-build facilities.
Winter Olympics 2030 speed skating decision
Organisers have ruled that the speed skating programme for the Games known as French Alps 2030 will be staged outside the host nation, with the competition set for established rinks in Turin or Heerenveen. The International Olympic Committee and Games organisers have rejected the construction of new facilities that would lack a clear post-Games legacy, and that stance directly prompted the move to use pre-existing venues abroad.
Edgar Grospiron, president of the French Alps 2030 organising committee, said the arrangement was a condition agreed with the IOC when France secured hosting rights. He told a media conference in Milan on Saturday, the day before the 2026 hosts hand over responsibility for the Games, that "this decision has already been taken" and the organising committee must proceed on that basis. He added the choice is intended so "the Games in the French Alps can be as we want them to be" and noted it will be the first time a discipline is staged in another European country.
Venue clusters in Nice, Briançon, Savoie and Haut-Savoie
The French Alps 2030 Games will be spread across south-east France with venue clusters explicitly identified in Nice, Briançon, Savoie and Haut-Savoie. Figure skating — which does not currently have a confirmed location in the planning documents — is earmarked for Nice, as are curling and ice hockey. Grospiron said about 15% of sports and venues for 2030 remain undecided and that remaining details will be confirmed by June this year.
Organisers have referenced a full schedule, including times of medal events, as part of those outstanding details.
Turin and Heerenveen as pre-existing speed skating venues
The choice of Turin or Heerenveen reflects a policy to rely on existing infrastructure. The speed skating events at Milan-Cortina 2026, for context, took place in the south of the Italian city, underlining the precedent for using established arenas outside mountain clusters. The use of venues in a different country for 2030 marks a departure from past practice when cross-border staging tended to remain within a host's territories.
Nordic combined and ski mountaineering status
Several sports retain uncertain status for the French Alps programme. Nordic combined — noted as the only event at Milan-Cortina 2026 not to have a women's competition — has not yet been confirmed for 2030. Ski mountaineering, which made its Olympic debut in 2026 and was the only new sport at those Games, is also yet to be confirmed as a medal event for the French Alps.
Programme choices and timeline for remaining decisions
Grospiron said organisers will still decide which new sports, if any, should be added to the programme and whether any existing events will be removed. With roughly 15% of sports and venues unresolved, the organising committee has set a firm internal deadline: details are to be confirmed by June this year. What makes this notable is the combination of a commitment to legacy-driven planning and the willingness to stage a discipline in another sovereign European country — a contrast with Paris 2024, where surfing was held on the Pacific island of Tahiti some approximately 10, 000 miles from metropolitan France but within France's overseas territory of French Polynesia. For 2030, the speed skating venue will lie in an independent nation outside France, creating a new logistical and diplomatic dynamic for the Games.
