The IOC will select its host city at the Session in a week's time on June 24 with the Sweden bid challenged by Milan and Cortina D'Ampezzo in Italy.

Double Olympic ice hockey champion Peter Forsberg, three-times Olympic speed skating gold medallist Tomas Gustafson and swimmer Gunnar Larsson, who claimed double gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics, will be among those set to arrive in the Olympic capital this weekend.

They will be joined by three curlers including two-time Olympic champion Anette Norberg and one-time champions Agnes Knochenhauer and Sara McManus.

Ice hockey player Jonas Bergqvist, Alpine skiier Frida Hansdotter and ski cross athlete Anna Holmlund, all one-time Olympic gold medallists, will also travel to Lausanne.

The group is completed by high jumper Stefan Holm, the Athens 2004 gold medallist and an IOC member, and Latvian bobsleigh Olympic champion Jänis Kipurs.

Kipurs will travel as the Sigulda track in Latvia will host sliding sports should Stockholm Åre be selected over the Italian bid for the Games.

In addition, Stockholm Åre 2026 ambassadors - six-time Alpine Skiing World Championship medallists Maria Pietilä Holmner and Jessica Lindell Vikarby and two-time world boxing champion Anna Laurell Nash - will all be in Lausanne.

Forsberg is hopeful that the country could host a maiden Winter Olympics in seven years' time.

"Bringing the Games to Sweden with Stockholm Åre 2026 would be a sensational victory for Swedish sports and for Sweden as a country," he said. 

With just seven days to go until the IOC announces its host, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and Foreign Minister Margot Wallström unified their support for the Stockholm Åre bid.

"Sweden last hosted the Olympic Games in 1912 and now it is time again," said Löfven.

"We are a strong winter sports nation. 

"We are very good at arranging big championships and we have shown it last winter with two major championships."

Wallström echoed Löfven's sentiments and said the IOC could trust Sweden to deliver a memorable Games.

"I believe that it would contribute to the positive image of Sweden and it is important not only for business abroad, but also for keeping Sweden united," said Wallström.

"For us, it is important to win the vote. 

"After all, we succeeded in entering the United Nations Security Council against all odds. 

"If we can do that, on the basis of everything we stand for – equality, openness and diversity - then we can do it in this contest, too."

In an open letter, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce has also thrown its weight behind the Stockholm Åre 2026 bid to deliver a sustainable Games.

The letter, signed by 17 Chamber members, including Stockholm Mayor Anna König Jerlmyr and Irene Svenonius, chairman of the Stockholm Region Executive Council, said the opportunities gained from hosting the Games would far outweigh the challenges.

It expressed an opinion that the Games could be a catalyst towards a sustainable economy, drawing on Swedish business' place at the forefront of sustainability.

The letter concluded by saying that "Sweden is ready to set a new gold standard for future Olympic Games".

Also backing the bid are Jacob and Marcus Wallenberg, chairman and deputy chairman of Investor AB Jacob - Sweden's largest industrial holding company.

"It’s important for companies to underline how committed they are to sport," said Marcus.

"The positive work by the IOC with their reform programmes, Olympic Agenda 2020 and The New Norm, highlight the concept of sustainability and inclusion, and this fits very well with modern business today.

"So, for us, from a business point of view, to be able to push for Stockholm Åre 2026's new sustainability and innovation vision is something we're really engaged in."

Stockholm Åre and Milan-Cortina Ampezzo will make technical briefings and a final presentation to the IOC Session on June 24 before the 2026 host is announced.