Yesterday saw the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announce the seven cities who have officially declared their interest in hosting the 2026 events.

Swiss Olympic President Jürg Stahl said: "We are delighted that countries from different continents, including many from Europe, are participating in the race to organise the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2026.

"We have great respect for all candidacies and will follow their application with interest.

"We have been working for a long time on our concept, whose technical quality is considered very good by many experts.

"We want Games that are authentic, sustainable and adapted to our possibilities."

Sion's bid, however, has been overshadowed by the possibility of a national referendum, which could put paid to their attempt.

However, speaking to insidethegames at the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Games last month, Swiss Paralympic Committee President Rene Will said Sion were confident that they would not have to fight a referendum across the whole of Switzerland.

A ballot could instead just be held in Sion's canton of Valais.

"We are convinced that the Council of States [one of the houses in the Swiss Federal Assembly] will decline the motion and therefore we do not have anything to fear," Will said.

"There is some work to be done to convince the people of Valais about this candidature but we are on track there."

Graz in Austria, Calgary in Canada, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Milan and Turin in Italy, Sapporo in Japan, Stockholm in Sweden and Erzurum in Turkey were the other six bids to declare official interest yesterday.

The Games will be awarded at the IOC session in 2019.