2026 Winter Paralympics

XIV Paralympic Winter Games

Location	Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Motto	IT's Your Vibe[a]
Athletes	665 (expected)
Events	79 in 6 sports
Opening	6 March 2026
Closing	15 March 2026
Opened by	President of Italy (expected)
Stadium	Verona Arena[b] (Opening ceremony) Cortina Olympic Ice Stadium[c] (Closing ceremony)
Winter Summer 2026 Winter Olympics

The 2026 Winter Paralympics (Italian: Milano Cortina 2026 Giochi paralimpici invernali), also known as the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Games, is the upcoming 14th edition of the Winter Paralympic Games, an international winter multi-sport parasports event governed by the International Paralympic Committee. It is scheduled to take place from 6 to 15 March at sites across Lombardy and Northeast Italy.

This will be 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. It will be the first Paralympic Games since Tignes-Albertville 1992 to officially feature multiple host cities, and will be the first Winter Paralympics since Vancouver 2010 where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held in different venues.^[4] It also marks the 50th anniversary of the Winter Paralympic Games.

In October 2018, the Italian National Olympic Committee officially confirmed plans for a bid by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo to host the Games.^[5] The bid was presented at the general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees on 28 November 2018 in Tokyo.^[6] 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.^[7]

2026 Winter Olympics bidding results^[8]

Bid	Nation	Votes
Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo	Italy	47
Stockholm–Åre	Sweden	34
One abstention or blank vote[9]

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 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons, and then to Anna Scavuzzo, vice-mayor of Milan, and Gianpietro Ghedina, mayor of Cortina d'Ampezzo.^[10][11] The flag was then flown back to Italy, where it arrived the following day.^[12] Both the Olympic flag and the Paralympic flag are displayed at Palazzo Marino and will remain there until the end of their respective events.^[13]

The torch relay is scheduled to take place from 24 February to 6 March 2026, with 501 torchbearers covering 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi). The flame will be lit at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the United Kingdom and will be sent to five Italian cities; the relay will visit Cortina d'Ampezzo, Venice, and Padua, ending at the Verona Arena for the opening ceremony.^[14]

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.^[15][16][17] The torch is bronze whereas the corresponding Olympic torch is light blue.^[18] 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 bio-LPG, a fuel made from renewable materials, produced at the Enilive 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.^[19]

A total of 18,000 volunteers will be involved with both the 2026 Paralympic and Olympic Games. Applications for volunteering opened on 19 September 2024.^[20] As of December 2024, almost 70,000 applications have been received.^[21]

Tickets for the 2026 Paralympic Games start at €10 for children under 14. About 89% of all available tickets - more than 200,000 - are priced at under €35. Registration for the ticketing platform opened on 4 October 2024 and ticket sales started in March 2025.^[22]

On 15 July 2025, the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Organising Committee unveiled the designs of the medals. The front side of each medal represents the Braille on the left and logo on the right, and the back is the Paralympics logo.

Milan

Tesero

Cortina d'Ampezzo

Verona

Locations of the venues in Northern Italy

Five competition venues will be used for the 2026 Paralympic Games, in addition to non-competitive venues including three Paralympic Villages.^[23]

• Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena – para ice hockey
• Milano Olympic & Paralympic Village – Paralympic Village

• Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium, Tesero – para biathlon, para cross-country skiing
• Predazzo Olympic & Paralympic Village – Paralympic Village

• Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre – para alpine skiing
• Cortina Para Snowboard Park – para snowboard
• Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, Cortina d'Ampezzo – wheelchair curling, closing ceremony
• Cortina Olympic & Paralympic Village – Paralympic Village

• Verona Arena – opening ceremony

The opening ceremony is scheduled for 6 March 2026 at the Verona Arena in Verona, entitled "Life in Motion", with production by Filmmaster Group. The closing ceremony is scheduled to take 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.^[24][25]

The Games are expected to feature 79 events in six Winter Paralympic sports. A mixed doubles event will make its debut in wheelchair curling.^[26] A total of 665 athlete quota places are available: 323 for men, 176 for women, and 166 gender-free.^[27]

• Para alpine skiing (30) ()
• Para biathlon (18) ()
• Para cross-country skiing (20) ()
• Para ice hockey (1) ()
• Para snowboard (8) ()
• Wheelchair curling (2) ()

A total of 56 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) and 2018 (due to support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine), Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete under their flags in the Paralympics, rather than neutrally (as they were at the Olympics). ^[28][29]

South Africa will make a comeback in the games, as Africa returning to the Winter Paralympics for the first time since 2010 and this time two athletes will compete for the country.

|}

Ranking	NPC	Athletes
1	Japan	93
2	United States	70
3	China	66
4	Canada	48
5	Italy	41
6	Germany	39
7	Slovakia	31
8	Czech Republic	23
	Ukraine	23
10	Great Britain	17
11	France	16
	South Korea	16
13	Norway	15
14	Sweden	13
15	Switzerland	12
16	Austria	11
17	Netherlands	9
18	Australia	8
	Brazil	8
	Latvia	8
	Poland	8
22	Kazakhstan	7
23	Russia	6
24	Spain	5
25	Belarus	4
	Mongolia	4
	New Zealand	4
28	Belgium	3
	Chile	3
	Croatia	3
	Finland	3
32	Argentina	2
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2
	El Salvador	2
	Estonia	2
	Georgia	2
	Greece	2
	Romania	2
	Slovenia	2
	South Africa	2
41	Andorra	1
	Armenia	1
	Azerbaijan	1
	Bulgaria	1
	Denmark	1
	Haiti	1
	Iran	1
	Israel	1
	Liechtenstein	1
	Lithuania	1
	Mexico	1
	North Macedonia	1
	Portugal	1
	Puerto Rico	1
	Serbia	1
	Turkey	1
Total		651

The schedule for the 2026 Paralympics was released on 9 December 2024. Due to curling venue being used for the closing ceremony, the competitions will begin two days before the opening ceremony, with the first two rounds of the wheelchair curling mixed doubles.^[30]

OC

Opening ceremony

●

Event competitions

1

Event finals

CC

Closing ceremony

March 2026	04 Wed	05 Thu	06 Fri	07 Sat	08 Sun	09 Mon	10 Tue	11 Wed	12 Thu	13 Fri	14 Sat	15 Sun	Events
Ceremonies			OC									CC	—N/a
Para alpine skiing				6		6	6		3	3	3	3	30
Para biathlon				6			6			6			18
Para cross-country skiing					6			6			2	6	20
Para ice hockey				●		●	●		●	●	●	1	1
Para snowboard				●	4						4		8
Wheelchair curling	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	●	●	1		2
Daily medal events	0	0	0	12	10	6	12	7	3	9	10	10	79
Cumulative total	0	0	0	12	22	28	40	47	50	59	69	79
March 2026	04 Wed	05 Thu	06 Fri	07 Sat	08 Sun	09 Mon	10 Tue	11 Wed	12 Thu	13 Fri	14 Sat	15 Sun	Total events

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.^[31][32][33]

An online vote closing on 28 February 2023 was held among a list of candidates to select the mascots of the Olympics and Paralympics, with the winning candidates being inspired by stoats.^[34] Their names were revealed to be Tina and Milo (derived from the names of the host cities),^[35] with Milo, the brown stoat, being the Paralympic mascot. The character is portrayed as having been born without a leg, and represents ingenuity, willpower and creativity.^[36]

In March 2022, "Fino all'alba" (transl. Until dawn) by Arisa was unveiled as the official song for both the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.^[37] The song was composed by Francesco Marrone and Giulio Gianni.^[38]

The brand elements for both the 2026 Paralympic and Olympic Games were unveiled on 7 November 2024, drawing inspiration from gestures, which are commonly used in Italian communication. These include pictograms for the six Paralympic sports inspired by movements of athletes.^[39][40] Five graphic elements named "vibes" were designed, with contemporary Italian figures selected to represent them on social media: musician Dardust (creativity), athlete Bebe Vio (energy), comedian Federico Basso (imagination), chef Davide Oldani (passion), and dancer Nicoletta Manni (style).^[39]

At least 300 hours of television coverage will be provided.^[41] In October 2025, the European Broadcasting Union acquired rights to the Games in Europe, with rights to be sub-licensed to its members; the EBU re-gained the pan-European rights for the first time since 2018.^[42] Rights agreements were also renewed with CBC Sports (Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Paralympic Committee), and Grupo Globo (Brazil).^[43][44]

In 2016, the Russian Paralympic Committee was suspended by the IPC due to the discovery of a state-sponsored doping program that had been active during the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.^[45][46] Russia was banned entirely from the 2016 Summer Paralympics,^[45] and cleared Russian athletes competed under the Paralympic flag as "Neutral Paralympic Athletes" at the 2018 Winter Paralympics. In 2020 and 2022, following a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the IPC allowed Russian athletes to compete under a semi-neutral "RPC" banner that incorporated Russia's national colors and an alternate emblem, but without using the Russian flag, the RPC's full name, or the Russian national anthem (which was substituted by Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1).^[47] Due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus were banned from participating in the 2024 Summer Paralympics, and their athletes competed neutrally under the banner of "Neutral Paralympic Athletes".^[48]

In September 2025, the IPC reinstated the Russian Paralympic Committee, allowing Russian athletes to participate in international competitions with their flag and anthem. However, the IPC noted in October 2025 that it was unlikely that Russia would be able to qualify any athletes to the Games: the FIS, IBU, and World Curling continue to prohibit Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in Olympic and Paralympic qualifying competitions, even under a neutral status,^[49] and it was "not possible in practice" for Russia to qualify for Para ice hockey.^[50]

On 17 February 2026, it was reported that six Russian athletes and four Belarusian athletes across alpine skiing, cross country, and snowboard had been awarded invitations by the Bipartite Commission, allowing them to compete in the Games. Among the athletes invited were Russian skier Alexey Bugaev, a three-time Paralympic gold medalist. The decision was met with condemnation from international officials, who considered it inappropriate for Russia and Belarus to return to international sport amid the still-ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.^[28][29] Ukrainian sports minister Matvii Bidnyi announced that his officials would boycott the Games' opening ceremony and other events in protest, explaining that "in Russia, Paralympic sport has been made a pillar for those whom Putin sent to Ukraine to kill – and who returned from Ukraine with injuries and disabilities", and that "When the Russian flag is raised on the international stage, it becomes part of Russia's propaganda machine. It sends a message to the world that the war is 'normal'. No, it is not ­normal. It is deeply outrageous that officials of the IPC refuse to ­understand this."^[51]

• 2026 Winter Olympics
• 1960 Summer Paralympics, held in Rome
• 2006 Winter Paralympics, held in Turin
• 2026 Summer Youth Olympics

• Official website