French Alps turmoil casts shadow over Winter Olympics 2030 as speed skating moves abroad
The organising body for the winter olympics 2030 confirmed that speed skating will be staged outside France, a decision unfolding amid leadership resignations, emergency government intervention and fights among local authorities that have raised questions about governance and sponsorship. The combination of a cross-border venue choice and mounting political pressure has accelerated scrutiny of delivery plans for Games spread across dozens of towns and valleys.
Edgar Grospiron outlines speed skating plan
Edgar Grospiron, president of the French Alps 2030 organising committee, said the decision to hold speed skating outside France was a condition agreed with the International Olympic Committee when France accepted the Games. The events will be held in pre-existing arenas in either Turin in northern Italy or Heerenveen in the Netherlands rather than in the French host region, mirroring a determination by the IOC and organisers not to build new venues without a clear legacy.
Winter Olympics 2030 venue map: Nice, Briançon, Savoie and Haut-Savoie
The Games, branded French Alps 2030, will be mostly spread across south‑east France with venue clusters in Nice, Briançon, Savoie and Haut‑Savoie. Grospiron said figure skating, which does not yet have a confirmed location, will take place in Nice, and that Nice will also host curling and ice hockey. He added that roughly 15% of sports and venues remain undecided and that final details will be confirmed by June this year.
Political pressure from Emmanuel Macron’s circle and Marina Ferrari
French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies have expressed anger at what they view as haphazard planning for the 2030 Games. French Sports Minister Marina Ferrari called an emergency meeting to ensure a "rapid and complete clarification on the governance and stability of the organization. " Two former presidential advisers privately urged stronger control, and an elected official involved in planning said the feeling inside the Élysée Palace is that "enough is enough. "
Resignations, leadership churn and potential replacements
Cojop has been plagued by infighting since its inception in 2024, with the operations and communications directors resigning in December and January over strategic disagreements. Grospiron said the organisation’s chief executive was in the process of departing. Names of potential replacements have begun circulating in the press, including former prime ministers Michel Barnier and Jean Castex. Macron has not called for Grospiron to step down, and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is planning to take a larger role and is set to visit the Alps for the formal arrival of the Olympic flag on Monday.
Costs, sponsorship and logistical scope across 600 kilometers
Grospiron last year pledged to make the 2030 Winter Olympics the cheapest in history, but getting private sponsors on board has proved difficult. Cojop has not yet announced any sponsorships, and organisers say private partners are wary amid negative publicity. The task is complicated by the Games’ footprint: unlike Paris 2024, which was concentrated mainly in the French capital, the 2030 Winter Olympics will stretch over a 600‑kilometre region spanning multiple French jurisdictions, creating logistical complexity and disputes among local leaders over who hosts which events.
Sport programme questions: Nordic combined and ski mountaineering
Several sporting questions remain unresolved. Nordic combined—the only event at Milan‑Cortina 2026 that did not have a women's competition—has not yet been confirmed for 2030. Ski mountaineering, which made its Olympic debut at Milan‑Cortina 2026, is not yet confirmed as a medal event in the French Alps. Grospiron said the organising committee will decide which new sports, if any, to add and whether any events should be removed.
Milan‑Cortina handover, IOC stance and communications
The Milan‑Cortina Games closed on Sunday, and Grospiron spoke at a media conference in Milan the day before the 2026 hosts handed over responsibility. He noted that speed skating at Milan‑Cortina 2026 took place in the south of the Italian city. The International Olympic Committee has stressed that it does not want to leave stranded infrastructure and has supported placing events in pre‑existing venues. The IOC pointed to a Feb. 4 statement from Cojop that said all of its teams "are fully mobilized and focused on their mission. "
Local leaders are already fighting over who gets to host what, and the situation has gotten so messy that officials were forced to unclear in the provided context. One former presidential aide characterized the state of planning bluntly: "They're all clowns. We need to take back control. " What makes this notable is that a single discipline moving to a different independent country—and the governance concerns surrounding it—has combined to transform routine venue selection into a high‑stakes political problem for the organisers and the French government.
