Utah leaders returned from the Milano Cortina Games with a clearer sense of what it will take to deliver in 2034 and what makes Utah different from other Olympic hosts.
“When was the last time that a winter organizing committee hosted a Games again and had some of the same team members plan the Games the second time and use the same venues they used the first time? Never,” said Utah 2034 CEO Brad Wilson.
Utah’s bid relies heavily on venues that have remained in use since the 2002 Winter Olympics, along with a network of organizers, venue operators and sport leaders who have already worked through the process once. Wilson said the organizing committee began its work roughly three years earlier than a typical Olympic cycle, giving Utah additional time to plan, coordinate and prepare for 2034.
So what will it take to bring the Games back to Utah better than ever?
‘Plan early, plan early, plan early’
“I learned three lessons. Plan early, plan early, plan early,” said Scott Doughman, director of strategic initiatives and Olympic planning at the University of Utah.
Leaders pointed to Italy’s results as an example of how host countries benefit from long-term preparation. Athletes competed in familiar environments, with access to venues and sustained investment behind them.
“The home field advantage was real,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, president and CEO of U.S. Ski and Snowboard.
She described a Games where experienced Italian athletes performed at a high level under pressure, supported by a home crowd and years of preparation on home ice and snow.
“The home team really always does rise to the occasion when the Games are in their country,” said Colin Hilton, president and CEO of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation.
Both Hilton and Wilson pointed to Utah’s legacy venues as a big advantage heading into 2034. Unlike most Olympic hosts, the state is working with venues that have remained active since 2002, hosting large-scale, international events regularly.
Those include the Utah Olympic Park, Soldier Hollow Nordic Center and the Utah Olympic Oval, all of which continue to host national and international events, along with Olympic venues like Deer Valley Resort, which has remained a regular stop on the World Cup circuit.
Wilson said that being prepared also includes planning for challenges and conditions that simply can’t be accounted for ahead of time, particularly as weather patterns become less predictable.
“To be a good skier, you have to keep your knees bent,” said Wilson. “We don’t know what those things will be, but what we can do is plan early, get out ahead of all the must-haves, and be prepared to pivot.”
This winter, Utah’s snowpack reached the lowest levels on record and peaked weeks earlier than normal, with statewide totals at roughly half of typical conditions. Many ski areas delayed openings due to low early season snow and warm temperatures and closed weeks earlier than usual as those conditions persisted throughout the season.
The Intermountain Health Freestyle International World Cup at Deer Valley was moved out of Utah this January due to snow and weather conditions, ending a three-decade run of successful hosting at the resort.
“We can’t control the weather,” Wilson said. “Would it be challenging? Yes. Are we prepared if it happens? Absolutely.”
Leaders said that familiarity can support performance if it is paired with continued investment in athlete development and coordination across governing bodies. Wilson said the extended timeline allows that work to begin earlier and progress more deliberately.
“We are not planning an event for 17 days. We are planning for decades,” he said.
Practice makes perfect
Leaders focused on how experienced venues translate into operational consistency. In Italy, sites that host regular competitions operated with fewer disruptions and more coordination.
Jack Gierhart, CEO of U.S. Biathlon, said that was clear at the biathlon venue that runs annual events in Antholz, where staff, volunteers and organizers had built familiarity over time.
“However you can prep and do test events as much as possible is really important,” he said.
Jennifer Wesselhoff, president and CEO of Park City Chamber/Bureau, saw that level of preparedness and execution at Antholz — despite the massive complication of securing controlled rifle and ammunition storage, along with managing access through accreditation checkpoints, all while still operating the course at Olympic standards inside a venue built for nearly 19,000 spectators.
“The team, the media, the visitors, the volunteers, the staff, they knew exactly what they were doing,” she said.
Hilton said Utah has built that same kind of system over time. Since 2002, the state has continued to host major competitions, including World Cups, world championships and junior-level events, such as North American Cups and junior world events, which introduce developing athletes to local venues earlier in their careers.
“What that does is provide a series of experienced technical volunteers,” he said.
That builds familiarity across multiple levels, leaders said, with a benefit to athletes getting to know the venues and staff and volunteers gaining experience running events at different scales.
It also supports Utah’s role as a training hub. Gierhart said international teams are increasingly interested in training at Soldier Hollow and other venues, both to prepare for 2034 and to access high-quality facilities. That activity builds energy around the sport locally while raising the level of competition for U.S. athletes.
Utah’s advantage comes from the fact that this system is already in place, they said, and the focus now is on expanding that to match the scale of the Olympics.
Riding the bus
For Park City and Summit County, that repetition and experience with hosting big events extends beyond competition sites. Events at Deer Valley and surrounding venues bring in spectators, media and support staff, which tests transportation systems, lodging capacity and community coordination.
Wesselhoff said that a broader ecosystem is what needs to be practiced and perfected.
“It’s not just the event,” she said. “It’s the entire ecosystem of what it takes to put on a global event.”
Transportation emerged as one of the most immediate challenges for 2034, particularly in Park City and Summit County.
“Transportation and transit was an … emotional experience,” Wesselhoff joked. “It reflects everything about your guest’s experience.”
She said access, timing and movement between venues affected how visitors perceived every event she experienced in Italy. Wilson said the scale of the 2034 Games will increase that pressure. Park City Mountain and Deer Valley will host more events than in 2002, and those events will take place daily, given the number of events added to the Olympic calendar in the last two decades.
“We have 40% more events in ’34 than we had in 2002,” he said. “Pretty much everybody will be busing into Summit County for events.”
Wesselhoff said local officials are using the Games as a catalyst to move forward with long-planned transportation projects, including bus rapid transit systems and expanded access routes. She said those improvements will support Olympic demand while also addressing long-term growth in Park City and Summit County.
Athlete experience
Leaders also focused on how athletes experience the Games outside of competition, and how that experience shapes performance.
The last Winter Games at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics were held under strict COVID-19 protocols, with no spectators and limited family access. Milano Cortina marked the first time in eight years that athletes competed in a full Olympic environment, with crowds, family and the public interacting with athletes across venues.
“It was the first time that we were back together in eight years,” said Catherine Raney Norman, vice president of development and athlete relations for the 2034 organizing committee.
She said athletes consistently pointed to that environment as a defining part of the Games. Competing in front of family members and full crowds changed how the event felt, not just emotionally but competitively.
“The number of athletes that came and shared how excited they were to have fans, to have spectators, to have a community that wanted to celebrate their sport was really an incredible experience,” she said.
That feedback has shifted how Utah is approaching planning and decision-making around how athletes can interact with spectators, how families access events and how the broader environment supports them throughout the Games.
“How do we bring about a holistic athlete experience?” Raney Norman said.
It will include planning for every part of an athlete’s day, she said, from where they stay, how they get to competition and where they store equipment, to where they meet with coaches and sponsors and how they recover after an event.
Utah’s existing venue system allows organizers to focus less on building new spaces and more on improving how athletes live and move within the system that already exists, they said.
“The lights don’t go out in 2034,” she said. “How do we leave a better world through sport?”