It has been stressed that the bid is a Krakow one with events held in Slovakia only for logistical reasons ©Getty Images



Lubomir Soucek, head of media communications at the Slovak Olympic Committee, revealed that the country's Government has set aside €177 million ($243 million/£146 million) for the Games, although only €8 million ($11 million/£6.6 million) of this will go directly towards facilities.

The remaining €169 million ($232 million/£139 million) will go towards infrastructural costs.

"This spending is necessary for the future development of the region and will go towards improving roads and other infrastructure," he told insidethegames.

"We also want to put the Jasna resort, which has held Grand Prix events since 1939, back on the Alpine skiing map and are investing into ski tracks and cable-ways to do that.

"The resort is holding the World Junior Championships at the moment and we want to make it a regular World Cup venue."

Soucek reiterated the fact that it is not a joint Polish-Slovakian bid but a Krakow city bid but claimed there had been extensive coordination between the two countries at Parliamentary and Governmental level, as well as between the two National Olympic Committees. 

He added that, after bidding unsuccessfully for the 2002 and 2006 Games, there is no Slovakian plan to bid individually for a Games in the near future.

There has been cooperation over the bid from Slovakian and Polish figures, including respective Prime Ministers Iveta Radičová and Donald Tusk ©AFP/Getty Images


Kraków is one of five cities bidding for the Games - along with Almaty, Beijing, Lviv and Oslo - and was the only one not to hold a press event in Sochi during last month's Olympic Games after a proposed briefing was cancelled due to personal circumstances.

Yet they remain fully confident in their progress ahead of the submission of Applicant Files to the IOC in Lausanne on March 14. 

"We would like to highlight that this is a bid from Poland - it was agreed by the Prime Ministers of Poland and Slovakia that it is Kraków that will run for 2022," a bid spokesperson told insidethegames.

"The reason why we would like to organise the Alpine competitions in Slovakia is that we share the beautiful Tatra Mountains region with our Slovakian neighbours, historically they have been considered a unified region of amazing beauty and they are very supportive of hosting the Alpine skiing events at Jasna.

"We will all achieve great benefit from the hosting opportunity. 

"Jasna is the leading Central European skiing resort, with millions of dollars of infrastructure already invested.

"The FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships 2014 is being hosted there at the moment and we're looking forward to organising our Olympic Alpine competitions there."