Milano Cortina 2026 - Biggest Paralympic Winter Games

Milano Cortina 2026 will be the biggest Paralympic Winter Games in history with the most ever National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) and Para athletes set to compete.

As the Paralympic Winter Games celebrates a special milestone with its 50th anniversary, history will be made when 612 athletes from 56 NPCs will line-up in 79 medal events across six sports. The previous record was 564 athletes from 49 delegations at PyeongChang 2018. When the Winter Games began in Ornskoldsvik in 1976, there were 198 athletes from 16 countries.

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Five Debutant NPCs

Amongst the 56 competing NPCs will be five Paralympic Winter Games debutants.

El Salvador has never competed at any Winter Games - Olympic or Paralympic - but will have two Para athletes competing in Para cross-country skiing - David Chavez and Jonathan Arias.

Haiti and North Macedonia will both make their Paralympic Winter Games debuts in Para alpine skiing courtesy of Ralf Etienne and Zoran Jovanovski respectively. Montenegro's Andrej Sibalic and Portugal's Diogo Carmona will both line-up in Para snowboard, ensuring representation of their respective countries for the first time at a Paralympic Winter Games.

The athletes from El Salvador, Haiti, Montenegro, and North Macedonia have all benefited from funding support from the IPC's Sport for Mobility program over the last 12 months to qualify for the Games. In total 39 athletes and four guides from 23 NPCs who will compete at the Games received sport development support through Sport for Mobility and other sport development programs for Milano Cortina 2026.

Record Female Participation

For the fourth successive Paralympic Winter Games, a record number of women will compete. A total of 160 female competitors will compete across all six sports, an 18 per cent increase on the previous record high of 136 women set at Beijing 2022.

Six NPCs will also have a record number of female competitors for the Paralympic Winter Games: Australia (5), Belarus (3), Brazil (3), Croatia (2), Korea (6), Latvia (4).

Five sports will have a record number of female competitors: Para alpine skiing (57 women), Para biathlon (45), Para cross-country skiing (65), Para snowboard (15) and wheelchair curling (25). In Para ice hockey a female athlete will compete for the second consecutive Games and the fourth-time ever since the sport was included in the Games.

Biggest Delegations

China, who topped the medals table for the first time at Beijing 2022, have the biggest delegation of all competing NPCs with 70 athletes, followed by USA with 68, and Canada with 46. Hosts Italy boast a team of 42 athletes.

Seven other NPCs will send their biggest ever delegations to a Paralympic Winter Games: Brazil (8 athletes), Czechia (24), Italy (42), Kazakhstan (7), Latvia (7), Slovakia (28) and Ukraine (25).

Highlighting the growth of the Paralympic Winter Games, a record number of NPCs will compete in the sports of Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country skiing, Para snowboard and wheelchair curling.

Para athletes from 44 NPCs will contest 30 medal events in Para alpine skiing, surpassing the previous best of 37 NPCs from Beijing 2022.

In Para biathlon, 21 NPCs will contest 18 medal events. The previous highest was 16 NPCs from PyeongChang 2018.

Thirty-two NPCs will contest the 20 medal events in Para cross-country, one more than PyeongChang 2018.

In Para snowboard where there are eight medal events, Para athletes from 28 NPCs will compete, surpassing the previous high of 24 NPCs at PyeongChang 2018.

Colleen Wrenn, IPC Executive Director Paralympic Games, said:

"The number of records that Milano Cortina 2026 is setting in terms of competing athletes and delegations is a testament to the fantastic work of the NPCs and International Federations in the lead-up to the Games."

"While the number of competitors has increased, so has the intensity of competition with each medal event now boasting a depth of talent never seen to such a level before at Paralympic Winter Games."

"Across all six sports, we are set to witness incredible and historic performances. But the Games are more than just experiencing amazing sport - the power of the Paralympics is in its ability to also change attitudes towards persons with disabilities. It is this unique power that makes the Paralympic Games so transformational."

A total of 78 bipartite qualification slots were awarded to athletes spanning four sports - Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country skiing and Para snowboard - and 36 NPCs.

The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games will open on 6 March at the Arena di Verona.

Ticket prices for the Games start at EUR 10 for children under 14, with approximately 89 per cent of the tickets available for EUR 35 or less.

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and published on 2026/03/05, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.