The IOC on Thursday ruled out adding year-round sports without snow or ice to the 2030 Winter Olympics but did not exclude the possibility at a later date.
Disciplines such as cross-country running, trail running, cyclocross and gravel cycling have all been mooted as possible crossover contenders for inclusion in the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps.
“We will vote on the program in June, but we have already decided that no summer sport and no all-season sport will be included. It will only be snow and ice,” IOC president Kirsty Coventry told the press.
However, she said such a reform would “potentially lend itself” to Salt Lake City in 2034.
“We should figure out how we want potentially new sports, innovative sports and disciplines to come onto the program,” she said. “But we’re also under the very big realization that we can’t continue to just get bigger, bigger, bigger. That’s not the answer either.”
The head of the 2030 Games, Edgar Grospiron, floated the possibility in December of including outdoor disciplines with no snow or ice and with low organizational costs, to better exploit the potential of the French Alps.
“Between 1,000 meters and 2,500 meters in altitude, we have all the snow, all the resorts,” he said. “But between zero and 1,000 meters, there’s nothing, even though it’s an incredible playground.
“And that’s where we’re thinking about outdoor sports: trail running, cyclocross, gravel… It would really be a shame not to show that side of things.”
© 2026 AFP
