Sweden v Italy as IOC votes to choose 2026 Winter Olympics hosts

International Olympic Committee members will decide Monday between bids by Stockholm/Are and Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo in the race to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

The vote to choose a winner from the Swedish and Italian rivals is expected to be closer than the 2015 vote when Beijing beat the Kazakh city Almaty to land the 2022 Winter Games.

On the road to the 2026 decision, bids from Calgary, Graz in Austria, Japan's Sapporo and Sion in Switzerland have fallen by the wayside, mainly because of concerns over the cost or a lack of popular support.

A bid by the Turkish ski resort of Erzurum was ruled out by the IOC in October 2018.

The bid by Stockholm and the Are ski area -- which hosted the World Ski Championships in February -- appeared to be running out of steam a few months ago due to a lack of funding commitments, but the government has now swung behind it.

On the eve of the vote, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said after meeting IOC president Thomas Bach: "Sweden is ready to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2026 and the Swedish government is very supportive."