Netherlands on Track to Host 2030 Winter Olympic Speed Skating as Italy Drops Out
France's 2030 Winter Olympics organising committee has decided to negotiate only with the Netherlands about staging the long-track speed skating at Thialf in Heerenveen. A definitive decision is expected at the end of June.
The Dutch ice rink Thialf in Heerenveen has taken a major step toward hosting the long-track speed skating at the 2030 Winter Olympics, after the French organising committee announced it will continue formal talks only with the Netherlands. Italy's Turin, the other candidate, has effectively been dropped, Dutch sport umbrella body NOC*NSF said on Monday
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Why France is looking abroad
The 2030 Winter Olympics were awarded to the French Alps in July 2024. France, however, does not have a speed skating rink that meets Olympic requirements, and the organising committee has consistently ruled out building a new one or putting up a temporary track. The committee is therefore searching for an existing venue abroad.
Like the recent Milano-Cortina Games, the 2030 edition will be spread across more than one region. Some sports, including ice hockey, figure skating and short track, will be held in Nice on the Mediterranean coast. Long-track speed skating is the missing piece.
Why Thialf, and why not Turin
The two main alternatives have long been Turin's Oval Lingotto, used during the 2006 Winter Games, and Thialf in Heerenveen, the home of much of the Dutch national skating programme. According to Italian media, Turin would need around €12 million in refurbishment work to meet Olympic standards. Thialf, by contrast, has been described by Dutch officials as "ready to go," after major rebuilding work in recent years. The rink is widely considered the fastest and most sustainable lowland ice surface in the world.
That fits a wider trend. Under the IOC's "Olympic Agenda 2020+5" strategy, organisers are increasingly being asked to use existing venues rather than build new ones for one-off use. According to Niels Dokkuma, sustainability manager at NOC*NSF, climate change and rising costs mean there are simply fewer places that can host the Winter Games on their own, so spreading events across countries is becoming standard.
What the negotiating phase means
The official talks now starting are about working out the details. The Dutch working group, made up of Thialf, NOC*NSF, the Dutch skating union KNSB, the ministry of health, welfare and sport, the province of Fryslân and the municipality of Heerenveen, will discuss financial, logistical and technical questions with the French committee. Exactly which adjustments Thialf would need to host an Olympic tournament, and where related facilities such as an athletes' village would be located, has not yet been decided.
If those talks go well, definitive approval is expected at the end of June, when the IOC plans to present all the venues for the 2030 Games. The Dutch side stresses that the French choice is not yet final.
Reactions from Heerenveen
Both regional and national stakeholders have been preparing for years. Thialf director Minne Dolstra has called the prospect of hosting the 2030 speed skating "the ultimate crown" on the venue's 175-year history. Mayor of Heerenveen Avine Fokkens-Kelder has said the city will "dress the centre in Olympic and French colours" to recreate a village-style atmosphere, given that the actual Olympic village will be elsewhere in France. KNSB director Herman de Haan called the idea of hosting the Olympic skating "fantastic," noting that "speed skating is in the DNA of the Netherlands."
If the deal is confirmed, it would be the first time in 102 years, since the 1928 Summer Games in Amsterdam, that the Netherlands plays a host role in an Olympic event.
