A look at the 2026 Winter Olympic bids in Monday's vote

While the Winter Olympics still has issues attracting bidders, two candidates have stayed on Monday's ballot to pick the 2026 host.

The contest is formally a choice between Milan-Cortina and Stockholm-Are. Effectively it is northern Italy against Sweden and Latvia as the costs and duties of Olympic hosting shift from cities to regions and multiple nations.

The International Olympic Committee hopes — and arguably needs — the 2026 Winter Games to ease concerns of taxpayers worldwide that hosting a two-week sports festival would be a too-expensive luxury.

FILE - In this Wednesday, April 26, 2017 file photo, Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the OPCW's 20th anniversary in The Hague, Netherlands. Sweden is sending its heir to the throne and head of government to Switzerland to support its bid in the 2026 Winter Olympics host vote on Monday, June 24, 2019. The Stockholm-Are 2026 campaign says Crown Princess Victoria is “the nation’s most popular public figure” and will join the delegation in Lausanne. (Peter Dejong, Pool Photo via AP, File)

"Both countries are very traditional and strong winter sport countries," said IOC President Thomas Bach, who wanted a return to Europe after two Winter Games in Asia.

Pyeongchang in 2018 will be followed in 2022 by Beijing, which took advantage of European rivals, including Stockholm, being wary of the cost or rejected by local voters.

Both 2026 candidates likely would have dropped out of previous contests that had stricter rules and deadlines.

FILE - In this Saturday, April 6, 2019 file photo, from left, Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala is flanked by President of the Italian National Olympic Committee, CONI, Giovanni Malago' and Winter Olympics Milano Cortina bid IOC Evaluation Commission manager Octavian Morariu, during a winter Olympics Milan Cortina bid IOC Evaluation Commission final news conference, in Milan, Italy. Two candidates have stayed on the ballot to be held on Monday, June 24, 2019 to pick the 2026 Winter Olympics host. The IOC worked hard to help keep the Italian and Swedish candidates in the contest, giving both extra time to get their government’s backing amid taxpayer concerns that Olympic hosting is an expensive luxury. Olympic officials hope the 2026 contest can shape a more efficient type of bidding and hosting. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno, File)

Now, the IOC makes fewer demands early in the process, urges using existing venues and coaxes candidates by letting them secure key government promises up to the last minute.

Milan emerged strongest last month from an Olympic panel's evaluation.

"We're the forerunner and we take pride in that fact," Italian Olympic Committee President Giovanni Malago said during the campaign.

FILE - In this Friday, July 31, 2015 file photo, participants celebrate following the announcement that Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics at a gathering outside of the Beijing Olympic Stadium, also known as the Birds Nest, in Beijing. The sign reads "Warm celebration of the successful Winter Olympics bid". Two candidates have stayed on the ballot to be held on Monday, June 24, 2019 to pick the 2026 Winter Olympics host. The IOC worked hard to help keep the Italian and Swedish candidates in the contest, giving both extra time to get their government’s backing amid taxpayer concerns that Olympic hosting is an expensive luxury. Olympic officials hope the 2026 contest can shape a more efficient type of bidding and hosting. (AP PhotoMark Schiefelbein, File)

Still, the votes of around 85 IOC members — many from countries with little snow and ice sports tradition — can be tough to read for Winter Games.

Here's a look at the vote:

NORTHERN ITALY vs. SWEDEN/LATVIA

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach delivers a speech during the inauguration of the new IOC headquarter on Sunday, June 23, 2019 in Lausanne ahead of the decision on 2026 Winter Games host. (Fabrice CoffriniPoolKeystone via AP)

Milan is the city base, sharing the bid name with picturesque Alpine ski resort Cortina d'Ampezzo about 400 kilometers (250 miles) away by road. Other towns in the middle would also stage events.

A wider spread three-way hosting with Turin further west was avoided when the 2006 Winter Games host withdrew last year.

Milan's storied 80,000-seat San Siro soccer stadium is slated for the opening ceremony, and the closer is a Roman amphitheater in Verona.

Stockholm on Sweden's southern coast is 540 kilometers (335 miles) from Are in the northwest.

Almost as far across the Baltic Sea is Latvia, which has a bobsled track at Sigulda. It's the best option to avoid building a white elephant venue in Sweden.

"This would give Latvia an Olympic experience the country might not otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy," the IOC evaluation said.

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE

Split-nation hosting is not new to Sweden. In 1956, when Melbourne hosted the Summer Games in November and December, quarantine rules for horses meant equestrian events were held in Stockholm in June.

Sweden has never held the Winter Games, though Stockholm also hosted the 1912 Summer Games.

Italy has hosted two Winter Games — 1956 in Cortina and 2006 in Turin — plus the 1960 Summer Games in Rome.

HEAD-TO-HEAD CONTEST

The IOC has just two candidates for the second straight Winter Games vote.

Four years ago, Beijing won a 44-40 vote narrowly over Almaty, Kazakhstan, after several contenders dropped out, including Stockholm in the early stages.

For 2026, a St. Moritz-Davos plan failed for the second straight time, and Switzerland's next option, Sion, was downed in a public vote. Opposition from Austrian voters also halted a bid, and the IOC stopped Erzurum, Turkey, going forward. Calgary, the 1988 host, lost a public vote and 1972 host Sapporo, Japan, did not follow through on its initial interest.

PUBLIC SUPPORT

The Italian and Swedish bids both had bumpy passages to Lausanne.

The Swedes have been tested to unite lawmakers. A new city government in Stockholm only formed in October and is not an official signatory to the key IOC hosting contract.

A minority national government coalition was approved only in January after being in limbo for months.

Italy also formed a new coalition last year, which gave caution to Olympic officials who had seen Rome drop out for the 2020 and 2024 Summer Games. Turin also pulled out in a squabble with Milan.

The IOC's own polling of public enthusiasm showed "83% support in Italy" and "55% in favor in Sweden."

FEW NEW VENUES

Avoiding white elephants is the core value of modern Olympic bidding.

Milan needs to build a hockey arena with private funding. An athlete village in the city is planned anyway for university student housing.

The IOC's efficiency drive means it wants Bormio cut as the men's Alpine ski venue, and the women's venue Cortina used instead.

The Swedish bid has concerned the IOC for lacking "binding venue funding guarantees" for the athlete village in Stockholm, plus new arenas for speedskating and a shared venue for cross-country skiing and biathlon.

The IOC's evaluation team suggested using existing ski venues in Falun and Ostersund.

BUDGET

Russia's $51 billion spending — on venues, transport projects and budget overruns — for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi still causes shivers in Olympic circles.

The 2026 bid needs to be seen as cost-controlled to help reassure potential future bidders.

The Italians plans for a games operating budget of 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion).

The Swedes estimate costs of 13.1 billion kronor ($1.4 billion) using no public funds.

The IOC has promised to kick in $925 million for the organizers, while security is an extra cost funded by taxpayers.

VOTING PROCESS

The IOC has 95 members, including royalty from Britain, Denmark, Jordan and the Emir of Qatar. Not all will vote Monday.

Three are suspended while implicated in wrongdoing, some rarely attend, while the members from Italy and Sweden are not eligible to vote.

The vote, starting a three-day annual meeting, is at the same SwissTech conference center in Lausanne where two years earlier IOC members agreed to combine the 2024 and 2028 Olympic votes — making winners of both Paris and Los Angeles.

The winner will have a simple majority of valid votes cast. It should be announced around 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) on Monday.

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing arguments Tuesday over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams.

Lower courts ruled for the transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia who challenged the state bans, but the conservative-dominated Supreme Court might not follow suit.

In just the past year, the justices ruled in favor state bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youths and allowed multiple restrictions on transgender people to be enforced.

The legal fight is playing out amid a broad effort by President Donald Trump to target transgender Americans, beginning on the first day of his second term and including the ouster of transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth.

The culture war cases come from Idaho and West Virginia, among the first of the more than two dozen Republican-led states that have banned transgender athletes from girls' and women’s teams.

The justices are evaluating claims of sex discrimination lodged by transgender people versus the need for fair competition for women and girls, the main argument made by the states.

In the first case, Lindsay Hecox, 25, sued over Idaho's first-in-the-nation ban for the chance to try out for the women's track and cross-country teams at Boise State University in Idaho. She didn't make either squad but competed in club-level soccer and running.

Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, has been taking puberty-blocking medication, publicly identified as a girl since age 8 and has been issued a West Virginia birth certificate recognizing her as female. She is the only transgender person who has sought to compete in girls' sports in West Virginia.

Pepper-Jackson has progressed from a back-of-the-pack cross-country runner in middle school to a statewide third-place finish in the discus in just her first year of high school.

Prominent women in sports have weighed in on both sides. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova, swimmers Summer Sanders and Donna de Varona and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh-Jennings are supporting the state bans. Soccer stars Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn and basketball players Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart back the transgender athletes.

The high-court arguments are expected to focus on whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or the landmark federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled LGBTQ people are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace, finding that “sex plays an unmistakable role” in employers’ decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate.

But last year, the six conservative justices on the nine-member court declined to apply the same sort of analysis when they upheld state bans on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

The states supporting the prohibitions on transgender athletes argue there is no reason to extend the ruling barring workplace discrimination to Title IX, which dramatically increased opportunities for girls and women in school sports.

Lawyers for Pepper-Jackson argue that the law protects people like their client from discrimination. They are asking for a ruling that would apply to the unique circumstances of her early transition. In Hecox's case, her lawyers want the court to dismiss the case because she has forsworn trying to play on women's teams.

Despite the small numbers of transgender athletes, the issue has taken on outsize importance. The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women’s sports after Trump, a Republican, signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.

The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to only compete on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.

About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people age 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

A decision is expected by early summer.

This story has been corrected to show the basketball player’s surname is Bird, not Byrd.

Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

FILE - Protestors hold signs during a rally at the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on March 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, file)

Becky Pepper-Jackson poses for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)