Paralympics-Milano Paralympics bank on China effect, Italian settings for growth-IPC
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An aerial view shows the Olympics rings on the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, which will host the curling, wheelchair curling, and Paralympic closing ceremony, during the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games 2026, in Cortina, Italy, January 25, 2025. REUTERS/Claudia Greco
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ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece - The 2026 Paralympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina will feature a record number of nations, with a strong Chinese team spurring competition and the Italian mountains providing the perfect background, International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said.
Speaking to Reuters on Wednesday with 100 days to go until the Paralympics start on March 6, Parsons said the level of competition would be the best yet.
"I do believe that the sport that we are going to see will be the best Paralympic winter sport we have ever seen. We have seen the trend in the last editions of the Games," Parsons said in an online interview.
"In Beijing 2022, a new player came to the table, which is China. They had a very strong participation."
China, who had won their first ever winter Paralympic medal in 2018, ended up top of the medal table four years later at home.
"This will make other countries react to that," Parsons said.
A record 50 nations with a total of around 600 athletes will be taking part in next year's Paralympics, held in Milan and Cortina D'Ampezzo in the Dolomites. El Salvador will make their winter Paralympic debut, with the event back in Europe, a strong winter sports region, for the first time in 20 years.
"The venues and the sceneries will be stunning," Parsons said. "There is a lot of room for growth in terms of countries... It shows that we have more countries interested in the Paralympic winter sport opportunities."
RUSSIA ABSENCE
One major winter sports nation that will not be present is Russia, despite the IPC lifting the ban on the country in recent months. Most federations have banned Russian athletes following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, blocking their qualification path for the Paralympics next year.
The International Olympic Committee, however, has kept its ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes in place for the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics starting in February, allowing them to compete only as independent neutral athletes, without their flag or anthem and with no participation in team sports.
The same conditions had applied for Russia and Belarus at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Parsons, who is also an IOC member and in September won a third term as IPC President, said the different approaches did not affect ties between the two multi-sport bodies.
He also said he was not a great supporter of possible IOC plans to have summer sports introduced into the Winter Games.
Earlier this month, the Winter Olympic sports federations opposed IOC proposals to consider the inclusion of summer sports in the Games to make them more attractive.
"I think we need to have a very good discussion on that. My initial reaction is that we need to keep the identity of the Games, and we do have Summer Games and Winter Games... there's still room for growth in traditional winter sports in the Paralympic movement," Parsons said. REUTERS
