The IOC confirmed today that the 134th Session would not take place in Milan should a joint Italian bid for the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games involving the city and Cortina d'Ampezzo be approved here next week.

The approval from the 133rd Session at the Youth Olympic Games, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday (October 8 and 9), is expected to be a formality.

Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo is due to be put forward as a candidate for 2026 at the Session, along with Calgary in Canada and Sweden's capital Stockholm.

Erzurum in Turkey was dropped from the race by the IOC Executive Board today.

Milan will lose the hosting rights for the Session, due to be held at the Milan Congress Centre, as IOC rules stipulate that an election cannot take place in one of the bidding nations.

The Italian National Olympic Committee had hoped that they would still be able to keep the Session.

They claimed that they have already paid for contracts for the event and accompanying ceremony venues.

An exact city in Switzerland has not yet been revealed by the IOC but Lausanne seems the prime contender, with the SwissTech Convention Centre a possible venue.

The facility hosted the IOC Extraordinary Session in 2017, where it was officially approved the joint awarding of the 2024 and 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games to Paris and Los Angeles respectively.

The 2019 Session would be the 18th to be held in Switzerland.

Lausanne held two editions of the Olympic Congress in 1913 and 1921 and has staged 15 Sessions since.

Other notable decisions made at Sessions in Switzerland include the 1997 event in Lausanne, where Athens was announced as the hosts of the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Milan was awarded the 2019 Session at last year's gathering of the membership in Lima as the Italian city was the only bidder.