ROME — The Italian organizing committee for the 2026 Winter Olympics decided Tuesday to move forward with rebuilding a century-old bobsled track in Cortina d’Ampezzo but will also keep open a “Plan B” in case the new venue is not ready by March 2025.

The International Olympic Committee has yet to respond.

The Italian organizing committee said following a board meeting that its plans hinge on signing a contract with Parma-based construction company Impresa Pizzarotti & C., which has offered to rebuild the Cortina track for 81.6 million euros ($89 million).

If the contract for the sliding center is signed “it would confirm the original masterplan” for the Olympics, the Milan-Cortina committee said, adding that the new venue “would revive Cortina’s long tradition in these sports and help future generations.”

“Lake Placid congratulates Milano Cortina 2026 on its decision to rebuild the sliding track in Cortina and looks to be a supportive partner to the Milano Cortina Organizing Committee as they get ready for the 2026 Winter Games,” state Olympic Regional Development Director of Communications Darcy Norfolk said in a statement. “Lake Placid with its active and competitive sliding track and similar Olympic history, submitted a budget-friendly, compelling proposal in collaboration with New York City, and stands ready to make its facilities available for the sliding events if necessary.”

The announcement comes amid a standoff with the IOC, which wants an existing foreign venue in neighboring Austria or Switzerland used instead to cut costs, according to the Associated Press.

While Norfolk acknowledged the AP’s reporting on Austria or Switzerland being the IOC’s preferred sliding hosts, she said the Lake Placid’s bid committee had not been told that information.

“We’ve also heard about some of the deficiencies with some of those tracks too,” she said. “There is a lot more to this and we’re kind of in this waiting game still.”

The Italian government has made it clear that it does not want to finance a foreign venue.

“It is not acceptable for the bobsled races to take place outside Italy,” Deputy Premier Antonio Tajani said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “We will do everything to achieve the goal.”

Construction would start with less than two years to go before the Milan-Cortina Games — and less than a year before IOC-mandated test events. No sliding track has been built recently in such a short timeframe and test events have taken on even greater importance following the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training crash hours before the start of the opening ceremony for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

“Considering the negative views of the IOC and the international federations, which are concerned about the timeframe that the project would require, and considering advice from SIMICO (the company in charge of infrastructure for the games), the board has decided not to interrupt dialogue with other existing and functioning venues,” the local organizing committee said, adding that it has asked chairman Andrea Varnier “to continue negotiations for an eventual Plan B that would require added budget.”

The Milan-Cortina committee added that it realizes that “under no circumstances” can the new track be certified after March 2025.