The 2026 Winter Paralympics (), also known as the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games, were the 14th edition of the Winter Paralympic Games, an international winter multi-sport parasports event governed by the International Paralympic Committee. It took place from 6 to 15 March at sites across Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, with competition in wheelchair curling beginning on 4 March.
Marking the 50th anniversary of the inaugural Winter Paralympics in 1976, this was the third Paralympic Games hosted in Italy, following the 1960 Summer Paralympics in Rome (the inaugural Paralympic Games) and the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Turin. These were the final winter games to take place under the IPC presidency of Andrew Parsons.
China finished at the top of the medal table for the second successive Winter Paralympics with 15 gold and 44 medals overall, and the United States finished second with 13 gold and 24 medals. Russia finished in third with 8 gold and 12 medals. The host nation Italy finished in fourth with 7 gold and 16 medals, setting a new record for number of medals won. Brazil won its first medal in their Winter Paralympic history, becoming the first tropical, Latin American and South American National Paralympic Committee to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics. Latvia also won its first medal in its Winter Paralympic history.
The edition drew controversy surrounding its inclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes for the first time since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Host selection
In October 2018, the Italian National Olympic Committee officially confirmed plans for a bid by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo to host the Games. The bid was presented at the general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees on 28 November 2018 in Tokyo. The two cities were elected as hosts of both the 2026 Paralympics and Olympics on 24 June 2019 at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland, defeating Sweden's joint bid of Stockholm and Åre. +2026 Winter Olympics bidding results Bid Nation VotesMilan–Cortina d'Ampezzo47Stockholm–Åre34One abstention or blank vote
Development and preparations Handover ceremony The handover occurred during the closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, China, on 13 March. The Paralympic flag was passed from Beijing mayor Chen Jining to IPC president Andrew Parsons, and then to Anna Scavuzzo, vice-mayor of Milan, and Gianpietro Ghedina, mayor of Cortina d'Ampezzo. The flag was then flown back to Italy, where it arrived the following day. Both the Olympic flag and the Paralympic flag are displayed at Palazzo Marino and will remain there until the end of their respective events.
Torch relay
The torch relay took place from 24 February to 6 March 2026, with 501 torchbearers covering . The flame was lit at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the United Kingdom and was sent to five Italian cities; the relay visited Cortina d'Ampezzo, Venice, and Padua, ending at the Verona Arena for the opening ceremony.
The Paralympic torch was presented in a simultaneous event held in Milan in Italy and Osaka in Japan. It was revealed at the Triennale di Milano and at the Italian pavilion at Expo 2025 as a way of connecting the two twin cities, as Milan previously hosted Expo 2015. The torch is bronze whereas the corresponding Olympic torch is light blue.
Named "Essential"; developed by Eni and its subsidiary Versalis, designed by Studio Carlo Ratti Associati and produced in Italy by Cavagna Group, the torches are made primarily of an alloy of recycled aluminium and bronze. They run on bio-LPG, a fuel made from renewable materials, produced at the biorefinery in Gela, and have been designed to be refilled up to ten times in order to cut down on the number of torches produced.
Volunteers A total of 18,000 volunteers were involved with both the 2026 Paralympic and Olympic Games. Applications for volunteering opened on 19 September 2024. As of December 2024, almost 70,000 applications have been received.
Ticketing Tickets for the 2026 Paralympic Games started at €10 for children under 14. About 89% of all available tickets – more than 200,000 – were priced at under €35. Registration for the ticketing platform opened on 4 October 2024 and ticket sales started in March 2025.
Medals
The 2026 Winter Paralympics gold medal The 2026 Winter Paralympics silver medal The 2026 Winter Paralympics bronze medal On 15 July 2025, the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Organising Committee unveiled the designs of the medals. The front side of each of the 2026 Winter Paralympic medals represents the Braille on the left and logo on the right, and the back is the Paralympics logo.
Venues
Five competition venues were used for the 2026 Paralympic Games, in addition to non-competitive venues including three Paralympic Villages.
Milan Cluster Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena – Para ice hockey Milano Paralympic Village – Paralympic Village
Val di Fiemme Cluster Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium – Para biathlon, para cross-country skiing Predazzo Olympic & Paralympic Village – Paralympic Village
Cortina Cluster Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre – Para alpine skiing Cortina Para Snowboard Park – Para snowboard Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium – Wheelchair curling, closing ceremony Cortina Paralympic Village – Paralympic Village
Verona Verona Olympic Arena – Opening ceremony
The Games Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony took place on 6 March 2026 at the Verona Arena in Verona, entitled Life in Motion, with production by . The Paralympic cauldrons were lit by Italian Paralympians Gianmaria Dal Maistro in Milan and Francesca Porcellato in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
A number of delegations skipped the opening ceremony entirely; some of these absences were for logistical reasons, as Verona is from Cortina d'Ampezzo. A number of teams additionally boycotted the opening ceremony in protest of the IPC allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their national flags. Organisers stated that all participating National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) would still be featured in the parade of nations regardless of athlete presence, with volunteer flag bearers and video packages being used to represent NPCs which could not attend.
Sports The Games are expected to feature 79 events in six Winter Paralympic sports. A mixed doubles event made its debut in wheelchair curling. A total of 665 athlete quota places are available: 323 for men, 176 for women, and 166 gender-free.
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony took place on 15 March 2026 at the Cortina Olympic Ice Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, entitled Italian Souvenir, with production by G2 Eventi – Casta Diva Group. Several nations, led by Ukraine, boycotted the ceremony due to the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Games.
Participating National Paralympic Committees A total of 55 National Paralympic Committees have qualified athletes for the Games. For the first time since 2014 (due to the Russian doping scandal and 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine), Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to compete under their flags, rather than neutrally (as they were at the Olympics).
El Salvador, Haiti, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Portugal made their Winter Paralympic debuts. El Salvador was also the only country not participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics that was participating in the 2026 Winter Paralympics. Iran was scheduled to participate, but its only athlete withdrew a few hours before the opening ceremony due to being unable to travel to Italy as a result of the United States and Israel attack on Iran.
Participating National Paralympic Committees
(host)
NPCs that participated in 2026, but did not in 2022 NPCs that participated in 2022, but not in 2026 NPCs which qualified for 2026, but withdrew
Number of athletes by National Paralympic Committee NPCAthletes170268346444542640728825924102011191215151414141612179919882177724625526442833331222222223911111111111111111Total 612
Calendar
The schedule for the 2026 Paralympics was released on 9 December 2024. Due to wheelchair curling expansion program, the competitions started two days before the opening ceremony, with the first two rounds of the wheelchair curling mixed doubles.
OCOpening ceremony●Event competitions1Event finalsCCClosing ceremony
March 202604Wed05Thu06Fri07Sat08Sun09Mon10Tue11Wed12Thu13Fri14Sat15SunEvents CeremoniesOCCC Para alpine skiing
|style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|6 | |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|6 |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|6 | |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|3 |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|3 |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|3 |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|3 |30 Para biathlon
|style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|6 |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|6
|style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|6
|18|
|style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|6 |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|6
|style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|2 |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|6 |20 Para ice hockey
|style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● | |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● | |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|1 |1 Para snowboard
|style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|4
|style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|4
|8 Wheelchair curling |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|1 |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#3399ff;"|● |style="background-color:#ffcc00;"|1 | |2Daily medal events 0 0 0 12 10 6 12 7 3 13 6 10 79Cumulative total 0 0 0 12 22 28 40 47 50 63 69 79March 202604Wed05Thu06Fri07Sat08Sun09Mon10Tue11Wed12Thu13Fri14Sat15SunTotal events
Medal table
Brazil won their first Winter Paralympics medal, a silver in the men's sprint sitting event with Cristian Ribera. Latvia also won their first Winter Paralympics medal, a bronze in the mixed doubles curling event with Poļina Rožkova and Agris Lasmans.
Podium sweeps + Date Sport Event Team Gold Silver Bronze Ref 7 March Para biathlon Men's sprint, visually impaired Oleksandr KazikGuide: Serhii Kucheriavyi Iaroslav ReshetynskyiGuide: Dmytro Drahun Anatolii KovalevskyiGuide: Oleksandr Mukshyn 15 March Para cross-country skiing Men's 20 kilometre freestyle, standing Wang Chenyang Huang Lingxin Liu Xiaobin
Multi-medallists The following table lists the athletes who won the most medals.
#AthletesGoldSilverBronzeTotal 1 Veronika Aigner 4 1 0 5 2 Oksana Masters 4 0 1 5 3 Jake Adicoff 4 0 0 4 4 Sydney Peterson 3 1 0 45 Johannes Aigner 3 0 1 4 Ebba Årsjö 3 0 1 47 Cai Jiayun 3 0 0 3 Anastasiia Bagiian 3 0 0 3 Jeroen Kampschreur 3 0 0 3 10 Kim Yun-ji 2 3 0 5 11 Giacomo Bertagnolli 2 2 1 5 12 Wang Yue 2 1 2 5 13 Natalie Wilkie 2 1 1 4 Varvara Voronchikhina 2 1 1 4 Audrey Pascual 2 1 1 4 Robin Cuche 2 1 1 4
Marketing Emblem On 30 March 2021, following a public vote between two candidates designed by Landor Associates, a design named "Futura" was announced as the emblem of both the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. The Paralympic version is coloured with a red, blue, and green gradient to symbolise an aurora and the colours of the Paralympic agitos.
Mascot