Believe in miracles? Lake Placid could host 2026 Winter Olympics events

The Olympics could be returning to Lake Placid, N.Y. -- at least some of the events.

The picturesque village in the Adirondack Mountains, which last hosted the Games in the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" Olympics, has been identified as Plan B for the sliding events scheduled for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

Should renovations to the century-old sliding track at Cortina d'Ampezzo not be finished in time for the Games, the Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid is officially next in line.

An official in the village confirmed Lake Placid's stand-by status.

"There's a lot to do," Darcy Norfolk, the communications director for the Olympic Regional Development Authority, told the Times Union in Albany, N.Y., on Wednesday. "The next phase is a targeted dialogue with Milano-Cortina to work on a plan. They're confident their track will be completed on time, but they needed to identify a (backup) plan per International Olympic Committee Rules and that was us."

Lake Placid also hosted the 1932 Winter Olympics.

Norfolk said Innsbruck, Austria, and St. Moritz, Switzerland, also put in bids as the Plan B, which Lake Placid bested. Innsbruck held the games in 1964 and 1976, St. Moritz in 1928 and 1948.

The precedent exists for some events to be held thousands of miles from the host cities. In the 2024 Paris Olympics, for example, the surfing competition took place nearly 10,000 miles away in Tahiti.

The details of Lake Placid's bid -- and how much it would cost the local area to host even a few Olympics events --weren't immediately available

One thing is known, according to the Times Union. Medals for winners in Olympics would be handed out at the "celebration center" in New York City's Rockefeller Center -- a drive of approximately five hours.

The 2034 Winter Games will return to U.S. soil with Salt Lake City set to serve as the host.

--Field Level Media