On 23 July 2009, Annecy played host to Stage 18 of the Tour de France, as the start/finish point for an individual time trial around Lake Annecy.
Annecy bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games but lost to Pyeongchang.[5] If they had been chosen, Annecy would have been the fourth French city to host the Winter Olympic Games, after Chamonix (1924), Grenoble (1968), and Albertville (1992).
Ligue 1 team Évian Thonon Gaillard F.C. play their home matches in Annecy.
The Annecy basin is one of the world's leading locations for the sport of paragliding, an activity of some economic importance to the region.[6] The area regularly hosts major competitions, most recently a leg of the Paragliding World Cup in 2012.[7] Due to its proximity with the lake and the mountains, Annecy is also popular for watersports (sailing, rowing, wakeboarding, water skiing) and wintersports (alpine skiing, snowboarding, Nordic skiing). Le Semnoz, a relatively small ski resort is 35 minutes away from Annecy. Other bigger ski resorts, La Clusaz and Le Grand Bornand, are only 40 minutes away. Annecy is also very popular among trail runners and many races are organized year round, such as the World Trail Running Championships in 2015.[8]