The Winter Paralympics are go!

The 14th edition of the Paralympic Winter Games, Milano Cortina 2026, officially start with the Opening Ceremony on Friday March 6. This is the 50th anniversary of the first Winter Paralympics held in Örnsköldsvik (SWE), with Italy hosting the Games for the second time after Torino 2006.

FIS is responsible for three of the six sports being contested at Milano Cortina 2026: Para Alpine Skiing, Para Cross-Country Skiing, and Para Snowboard. Around 80% of the total medals awarded at the Games will be in FIS disciplines.

A record number of 54 countries will be represented in Para Snow Sports, five higher than the previous highest total. Participating for the first time are athletes from the National Ski Associations of Portugal, Montenegro, Lithuania, El Salvador, North Macedonia and Haiti.

From the Opening Ceremony onwards, FIS will be publishing daily reviews and previews, as well as reports detailing how the medals were won.

Para Alpine Skiing

Para Alpine Skiing will be held at Cortina d’Ampezzo which hosted women’s Alpine Skiing at last month’s Olympic Winter Games. Race Director Anja Skutelj is delighted with the venue, and looking forward to the action.

There are three categories across each gender for Para Alpine Skiing: Visually Impaired (VI), Standing, and Sitting. With races in all five disciplines - Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, and Alpine Combined - that means that there is a total of 30 medal events at these Winter Paralympics. Athletes from 43 countries will be taking part, four higher than the previous record.

EVENT SCHEDULE

• Saturday March 7 - Downhill

• Monday March 9 - Super-G

• Tuesday March 10 - Alpine Combined

• Thursday March 12 - Women’s Giant Slalom

• Friday March 13 - Men’s Giant Slalom

• Saturday March 14 - Women’s Slalom

• Sunday March 15 - Men’s Slalom

Austria’s Aigner siblings are chasing more gold in the VI category. Johannes Aigner claimed medals in all five events at Beijing 2022 and defends his Downhill title on Saturday although his main rival, home skier Giacomo Bertagnolli, won the test event held two years ago. Sister Veronika will also bid for medals across the board after winning Giant Slalom and Slalom gold in Beijing. Despite her usual guide, older sister Elisabeth, being ruled out with a knee injury, she could succeed Henrieta Farkašová (SVK) who retired after taking her tally to 11 Paralympic golds at Beijing 2022.

After his three golds in Beijing, Arthur Bauchet will again be the man to beat in the Standing category. The Frenchman won the Downhill, Slalom and Alpine Combined four years ago, and has dominated the World Cup since. The women’s Standing Downhill looks wide open with Ebba Årsjö making a triumphant return to the discipline in Tignes last month after a three-year break. The Swede is fancied to add to her Super Combined and Slalom golds from Beijing, but Anna-Maria Rieder (GER), double Beijing gold medalist Mengqiu Zhang (CHN), overall World Cup winner Aurélie Richard (FRA), Varvara Voronchikhina (RUS), and reigning champion Mollie Jepsen (CAN) all hold strong chances of making the podium.

Momoka Muraoka (JPN) will do battle with four-time Paralympic champion Anna-Lena Forster (GER) again as she defends her Sitting Downhill, Super-G, and Giant Slalom titles from Beijing. Forster has eight Paralympic medals in total, and won both the Alpine Combined and Slalom at the last two Games. Audrey Pascual Seco (ESP) is also a major contender after pushing Forster close in the World Cup, while Chinese pair Sitong Liu and Wenjing Zhang both won multiple medals in Beijing.

In the Men’s Sitting category, Renè De Silvestro (ITA) carries home hopes after winning two races at the January 2024 test event. Jesper Pedersen (NOR) just missed out on a clean sweep of golds at Beijing 2022 - only Corey Peters (NZL) beat him in the Downhill - and will be keen to add to his tally of titles. Jeroen Kampschreur (NED) has been Pedersen’s main rival in recent years but, like De Silvestro, is yet to win a Paralympic gold.

Cortina’s Para Alpine debut was the technical World Cup Finals in February 2023. Para Alpine Sport Manager Matteo Gobbo says his team learned a great deal from that and the January 2024 races.

“The test events for the speed disciplines were a bit challenging, especially with the (Sitting) monoskis,” he recalls. “If an athlete crashes into the netting, there’s a lot of power in a very small area so we had to think about something different in terms of safety. But, in the end, they are really good skiers who can more or less do all the course.

“The Downhill starts at the same place as the able-bodied women with the Super-G on top of the Tofana Schuss. We need to pay attention to the profile of the slope because we cannot have as many bumps in a row - they need more space to react so we smooth it down a little - but it’s otherwise the same.”

And he is confident Cortina will deliver a spectacular event. “The Olimpia delle Tofane is one of the most iconic courses on the World Cup circuit. And Cortina is the most beautiful Alpine Ski venue in the world.”

Para Cross-Country

Best known for the finish of the Tour de Ski, Val di Fiemme will host Para Cross-Country at the Winter Paralympics having staged Cross-Country at the Olympic Winter Games.

Race Director Georg Zipfel knows the venue well, and hopes the Games provide a springboard for interest in the discipline.

Centered on Tesoro Cross-Country Skiing Stadium, there will be 20 medal events in Para Cross-Country across the three categories of VI, Standing and Sitting. Athletes from a record 32 countries will be competing, six more than the previous highest total, with the Sprint Classic kicking off proceedings on Tuesday.

EVENT SCHEDULE

• Tuesday March 10 - Sprint Classic

• Wednesday March 11 - 10km Interval Start Classic

• Saturday March 14 - Mixed 4x2.5km Relay, Open 4x2.5km Relay

• Sunday March 15 - 20km Interval Start Free

In the Men’s VI, Jake Adicoff (USA) looks to be the athlete to beat. He took three individual silver medals in Beijing behind the great Brian McKeever (CAN) who is now his nation’s Para Cross-Country head coach. Adicoff, who won Mixed Relay gold in Beijing, has been close to unbeatable in World Cup distance competition. But he will have plenty of challengers in the Sprint with overall World Cup winner Zebastian Modin (SWE), Yu Shuang (CHN) and Oleg Ponomarev (RUS) among his rivals.

Linn Kazmaier (GER) is the reigning Women’s VI overall World Cup winner, but 17-year-old Simona Bubenickova (CZE) had her measure for most of the season and won 10km Interval Start Classic gold at last year’s World Championship. The pair will be in the medal hunt, along with Russia’s Anastasiia Bagiian and China’s reigning 20km Interval Start Free world champion Yue Wang.

The Women’s Standing category will see the latest installment of the rivalry between Vilde Nilsen (NOR) and Natalie Wilkie (CAN). Nilsen is yet to win gold in two previous Games appearances, but she has been largely dominant in the last couple of years with three-time Paralympic champion Wilkie registering the odd victory. Sydney Peterson (USA) has emerged as a real threat to the pair with her first three World Cup wins this season, and looks set to make her presence felt again after her Beijing three-medal haul.

Perhaps the most open category of the World Cup season just gone was Men’s Standing with overall series winner Serafym Drahun leading a number of competitive Ukrainian athletes. They will be to the fore in the Sprint, but Sebastian Marburger (GER) has been a regular on the podium, and reigning 20km Interval Start Free world champion Chenyang Wang (CHN) will be among those to watch with Raman Svirydzenka (BLR) also sure to be in the mix.

On her return to World Cup competition this season, Oksana Masters (USA) has been near-dominant in the Women’s Sitting category. The 36-year-old has five Paralympic golds - three Para Cross-Country and two in Para Biathlon - and will be keen to add to that tally in Italy after winning three individual silver medals in Beijing. Teammate Kendall Gretsch will also be challenging for the podium along with Korea’s Yunji Kim and Aline Dos Santos Rocha (BRA) who is hoping to win South America’s first Winter Paralympic medal.

Rocha’s teammate Cristian Westemaier Ribera is also seeking history for South America in the Men’s Sitting category and has been unbeaten in Sprints for nearly two years. Peng Zheng (CHN) could add to his two golds from Beijing, while overall World Cup winner Giuseppe Romele will hope to give the home crowd plenty to cheer.

“Val di Fiemme is an extremely challenging course for us Paralympians and for anyone who skis there,” says Romele. “My personal goal is definitely to aim high, and then we'll see what happens. There's a lot of responsibility on my shoulders, more than just the tension of the race or the performance, so I'm trying to stay calm and relaxed until the time comes.”

Unlike those in the VI and Standing categories, Sitting skiers do not have to adhere to Classic technique in those races.

Para Snowboard

Cortina Para Snowboard Park will host Para Snowboard at these Winter Paralympics. As in the World Cup, athletes will bid for medals in the two disciplines of Snowboard Cross (SBX) and Banked Slalom.

Race Director Alex Andreis is delighted to be officiating in his homeland and, despite the lack of a test event ahead of the Games, believes that this group of athletes will put on some thrilling action.

While Banked Slalom in the World Cup now sees athletes go head-to-head in a knockout format after qualification runs, at the Paralympics it remains a race against the clock with the best times in two runs deciding the medals.

There are three categories in Men’s Para Snowboard: Lower Limb 1 (LL1 - athletes with significant impairments to one or both legs), Lower Limb 2 (LL2 - athletes with “less activity limitation” to one of both legs), and Upper Limb (UL - athletes with upper limb impairments). There is only LL2 for the Women although athletes classified as LL1 will be able to compete as they did at Beijing 2022. That means there are a total of eight medal events being contested in Cortina.

EVENT SCHEDULE

• Saturday March 7 - Para Snowboard Cross seeding runs

• Sunday March 8 - Para Snowboard Cross finals

• Saturday March 14 - Banked Slalom

In the Men’s LL1, the two gold medalists from Beijing 2022 will face off again with Tyler Turner defending his SBX title, and Zhongwei Wu (CHN) bidding to retain his Banked Slalom crown. PyeongChang 2018 SBX champion ‘Monster’ Mike Schultz (USA) will be keen to add to his tally of three Paralympic medals at his last Games. But the man to beat could be his teammate Noah Elliott who won his third consecutive overall World Cup and was only denied a perfect Banked Slalom season by Schultz in the final race at Steamboat (USA).

Emanuel Perathoner will be a hot favourite to provide the home team with two gold medals in Men’s LL2. The two-time Olympic snowboarder is making his Paralympic debut on home snow, and suffered just one SBX defeat in the whole of last season as he clinched a third consecutive overall World Cup after winning both titles at the 2025 World Championships. Qi Sun (CHN) won SBX gold in Beijing four years ago, and he will be in medal contention along with former world SBX champion Ben Tudhope (AUS), Zach Miller (USA) and Ollie Hill (GBR).

Aron Fahrni (SUI) and Jacopo Luchini (ITA) have enjoyed a superb rivalry in Men’s UL in recent times with the 27-year-old Swiss gaining the upper hand this season. But Lijia Ji (CHN) is the reigning world champion in both SBX and Banked Slalom, and beat Fahrni in his own backyard in Lenk in January.

Luchini described the SBX course as “fun and challenging”, and on a technical level higher than what they are used to in World Cup.

Two women who previously competed in LL1 won LL2 titles at the last Games in Beijing. Cécile Hernandez (FRA) defends her Paralympic SBX title and is still winning races at the age of 51, while Brenna Huckaby (USA) will bid for her third consecutive gold in Banked Slalom. However, Huckaby’s teammate Kate Delson dominated the World Cup this season and looks certain to challenge for the top of the podium. There is also a strong Chinese challenge headed by Beijing Banked Slalom silver medalist Yanhong Geng.