Lausanne (RWH) There are now just two candidates left in the race to host the Olympic Winter Games in 2022, with Beijing (China) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) lying neck-and-neck in the run-up to the meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) on July 31, which will make the final decision. The two candidate cities were invited to present their concepts at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne (Switzerland) at the beginning of June. “It was really impressive to see how both cities had embraced the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020 just six months after the recommendations were unanimously approved by the IOC,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “You could see a clear focus in both bids on sustainability and affordability,” he added, and also praised the “well balanced budgets” and proposals for the “long-term development of their city, region and country.”