And then there were six.
Out of the 23 cities that flirted with the idea of hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics, only a half-dozen contenders remain after the application deadline on Thursday. Now, it鈥檚 a contest between two Old World continents. Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Beijing, China, represent team Asia. Europe鈥檚 prospects reside in Livi, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; Stockholm, Sweden; and shared between Krakow, Poland and Jasna, Slovakia.
Over 600 days remain until the International Olympic Committee (IOC) conducts the official host city election at the 127th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 31, 2015, which is just enough time for some speculative Olympic armchair quarterbacking.
We consulted with two experts on which cities have the best chances. Robert Livingstone is the founder of the influential , a news and information website that focuses solely on Olympic bidding. is a reporter at the Chicago Tribune who鈥檚 covered 17 Olympics Games and Sochi will be his tenth Winter Games. Explore the map below to see which city they think will host the XXIV Olympic Winter Games.