Salt Lake City, Utah, is one step closer to landing its second Winter Olympic Games after the International Olympic Committee announced it would be entering a "targeted dialogue" with the city for the 2034 Winter Games.

The IOC announced on Wednesday that it had selected the French Alps and Salt Lake City to enter targeted dialogues to host the 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympics, respectively.

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The hope from the International Olympic Committee is to award the hosting duties for both Olympics at a meeting ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. France and the United States are almost guaranteed to win the hosting duties for the 26th and 27th Winter Olympics with the new designation.

Salt Lake City had been eyeing the 2034 Winter Olympics, rather than the 2030 games, to have space between when Los Angeles, California, hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Although the IOC was initially resistant to awarding hosting duties for both the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games simultaneously, it looks poised to do so next summer. The last time the IOC simultaneously awarded hosting duties for two Olympic Games was in 2017, when it gave Paris, France, and Los Angeles, California, the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics, respectively.

Karl Stoss, chairman of the Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games, said proposals from the French and American Olympic committees "stood out" when evaluating their options. He specifically mentioned support for the Olympics within the respective countries and the "vision for the athlete experience."

"What really stood out about the French Alps and Salt Lake City-Utah projects was their vision for the athlete experience, their alignment with regional and national socio-economic development plans, and their very strong support from the public and from all levels of government," Stoss said in a statement. "The Commission felt strongly that the other Interested Parties would benefit from more time to optimise the athlete experience of their future Games, and to continue to build on their burgeoning foundations of public and political support."

The IOC cited prior hosting experience, strong support from the public, state government, and federal government, along with the lack of capital investment needed to stage the games, as reasons for entering the dialogue with Salt Lake City. The Utah capital previously hosted the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) celebrated the pivotal step toward the Olympics returning to the Beehive State with a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, saying he looks to make the games in 2034 the "greatest Olympics ever."

"We did it! The world is coming back to Utah in 2034. So proud of our team and can’t wait to make this the greatest Olympics ever," Cox said.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who served as president and CEO of the 2002 Olympic organizing committee, also issued his congratulations to the team behind Salt Lake City's 2034 bid.

"Congratulations to all those [sic] worked to bring the Olympics back to the Beehive State in 2034! Utah is well prepared to host the world once again for the Winter Games, and I look forward to what will surely be an inspiring demonstration of the best qualities of the human spirit," Romney posted on X.

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The next Winter Olympics will be held in the cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy in February 2026.

The United States has hosted four Winter Olympic Games, with the most recent being in Salt Lake City in 2002, and four Summer Olympic Games, with the most recent being in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996. Los Angeles is slated to host the 2028 Summer Olympics.