The race for the Winter Games in 2026 has not yet officially started, but applicants are preparing. Among them, Stockholm. The Swedish capital project seemed moribund, undermined by political divisions, but it has found new life. Richard Brisius, its general director (photo below), explained this to FrancsJeux.

FrancsJeux: Last December, Stockholm's proposed bid for the Winter Games in 2026 seemed doomed. Then his abandonment was denied. Where are you today?

Richard Brisius: We have officially entered the dialogue phase proposed by the IOC, as a city interested in a candidacy for the Winter Games in 2026. For 9 months, we have started a long educational work in Sweden, to explain the new situation of the IOC, inspired by Agenda 2020, and how it could allow us to organize the Games in Sweden. This work is bearing fruit, because our project now benefits from increasingly broad support, in the Stockholm region as in the rest of the country. We are moving forward step by step. The next step will be to enter the application phase.

Last December, the project was in danger of disappearing due to lack of sufficient political support. Is this still the case?

No. The situation has evolved. The mayor of Stockholm (Karin Wanngard) has always been very supportive of the Winter Games. But last April, she realized that support within the city council was insufficient. The council is made up of a coalition of eight political parties, four from each side. Since then, things have changed. The parties realized, one after the other, that the demands imposed on a host city were increasingly reduced. In terms of investment, for example, the expense would be tiny. The fear of risk has disappeared. And, with it, the political opposition to the project.

What will be the next step to take?

We are garnering increasingly strong support from the parties. The question of the Games is no longer really political. The next step will be to move from the dialogue phase to that of an application.

Will you resort to a referendum?

I don't know. But this option is unlikely, because we do not have a great tradition of referendums in Sweden, especially on questions of this nature. One of the parties in the Stockholm city council wanted one at the start of the process, but it is in the minority. Today, its members understood that Agenda 2020 had changed the situation.

Stockholm had abandoned its plan to bid for the Winter Games in 2022, citing budgetary reasons. How is this project different?

For the 2022 Games, a bid called for much heavier investments and infrastructure. This is no longer the case today. The application process itself was expensive. It is much less so today.

Are the proposed sites very different from the file prepared for the Winter Games in 2022?

Not really. We will not build a luge, bobsleigh and skeleton track, because the IOC no longer requires them. We planned to move some ski slopes to Are. And we want to build some sites. A speed skating ring, for example, and a Nordic ski slope in Stockholm itself. These disciplines are extremely popular in Sweden, but we lack equipment. We will do them because we need them, not just with the Games in mind.

In the absence of equipment in Sweden, where would the luge, bob and skeleton events be contested?

Abroad. We have already started discussions with Latvia. The country has a magnificent track at Sigulda. We would go there.

Faced with traditional candidates, like Sion, Calgary or Austria, how do you plan to make a difference?

I don't want to compare with other projects, but we have something unique in Sweden. A unique model of sustainability, not only in terms of the environment, but also of democracy. Sweden is a small country, but we try to do things in the best possible way.