Winter Olympics Annecy 2018, it’s now official…..but no room for Morzine

In a press release issued on July 16, the Annecy 2018 Winter Olympics committee has officially dropped the Chablais region and announced the consolidation of venues around Annecy and Chamonix.

Below is the translated statement released, entitled “Annecy 2018 to optimise compactness” (catchy!)

“On 22 June the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected Annecy in the list of candidate cities for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter 2018 event, along with Munich (Germany) and Pyeongchang (South Korea). The IOC has come without decision to comment on the over-dispersion of sites of the French bid. With this in mind Annecy 2018 moves to a new concept built around Annecy and Chamonix Valleys and Mont Blanc.”

This means that the events will be concentrated around Annecy and the valley of Chamonix, Mont Blanc; two remote sites which are less than an hour apart and directly connected by train and road.

As for the event venues:

Annecy has offered to host the skating, curling, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined (using the resorts of La Clusaz and Grand Bornand)

Chamonix in honour of the first ever Winter Olympic Games in 1924 will host the whole alpine skiing events, as well as the ice hockey.

La Plagne will host the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events.

As initially planned the events of the Paralympic Games will be held in Annecy.