After finding it difficult to sell the 2026 Winter Olympics, the IOC finally has two countries that are all in: Sweden and Italy.
It's Stockholm, the capital of Sweden and the self-described capital of Scandinavia, up against a joint Italian bid of Milan - a global fashion capital- and the ski resort of Cortina d' Ampezzo.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach announced the bids at a convention of the world's 206 Olympic committees in Tokyo on Thursday.
Bach and the IOC finally have what they want: bids that will take the Winter Olympics back to a traditional venue after winter games in Russia, South Korea - and in 2022 in Beijing.
China got the games by attrition, winning by four votes over Almaty, Kazakhstan, after a half-dozen European bidders dropped out, discouraged by soaring costs and taxpayer backlash.
For 2026, it seems different with the IOC picking the winner in June in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Although several cities voted in referendums not to bid - including Calgary, Canada, earlier this month - and several dropped out, the two left standing have deep roots in snow and ice.
Sweden was host to the 1912 Olympics, but has never held the Winter Games.
Italy has held two Winter Olympics - 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo and 2006 in Turin - and the Summer Games in Rome in 1960.
Both bidders say they are almost ready to go with little to build and claim their operating budgets will be about $US1.5 billion, which is the budget for running the games themselves.
The Milan-Cortina bid already has a pledge of added funding support from the national government.
Skating sports and hockey would be held in Milan, with Alpine skiing and sliding events in Cortina, which will hold the 2021 world ski championships.
Stockholm's main obstacle is that Sweden is between governments. A new national government could be formed as early as next week - or it might take months.
The Swedish bid calls for using a sliding venue in Sigulda, Latvia.
"Latvia is a country that wouldn't be able to host the games," said Per Palmstrom, vice president of the Swedish Olympic Committee.
"But now they are able to partner ours. So they love it."
