Most important Digest

Milano Cortina 2026 will showcase 79 Paralympic medal occasions throughout six winter sports activities, with one new medal occasion – wheelchair curling blended doubles – that includes for the primary time at a Paralympic Winter Video games.

There will likely be 39 medal occasions for males, 35 for ladies, and 5 blended occasions. Para alpine snowboarding, Para biathlon and Para cross-country snowboarding will provide gender parity by way of the variety of medal occasions.

In complete there are 665 athlete quota locations (323 for males, 176 for ladies, and 166 gender-free) for the Video games, which is 20 per cent larger than the 558 last entry numbers for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Video games.

Ought to all quota locations be fulfilled by Nationwide Paralympic Committees (NPCs) then Milano Cortina 2026 would be the greatest Paralympic Winter Video games so far by way of athlete participation. PyeongChang 2018 at present holds the document with 564 athletes participating. If all 176 quota locations for ladies are taken, then it would characterize a 29 per cent improve on the document 136 feminine athletes that participated at Beijing 2022.

Andrew Parsons, IPC President, stated:

“With just below three years to go till the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Video games, I’m actually happy that we are able to verify the medal occasions program and athlete quotas.”

“The addition of a second wheelchair curling occasion provides a brand new dimension to the ice sports activities on the Video games, whereas I hope that NPCs and Worldwide Federations use the time remaining between now and 2026 to additional develop feminine expertise with a purpose to fulfil the variety of slots out there to them.”

Jitske Visser, Chairperson of the IPC Athletes’ Council, stated:

“It’s all the time a particular second for an athlete when the medal occasion program is introduced and winter sport athletes all over the world can now step up their preparations for the video games.”

“After all, I wish to see a higher variety of athlete slots for females on the Video games, however to attain this for future editions we have to see a rise within the expertise pool globally and a higher depth of competitors.”

Detailed Medals Occasions Program and Athlete Quotas

Para Alpine Snowboarding

The medal occasions program is unchanged from Beijing 2022. There will likely be 30 medal occasions (15 male, 15 feminine). There will likely be 130 slots for males and 60 for ladies.

Para Biathlon and Para Cross Nation Snowboarding

There will likely be 18 Para biathlon (9 male, 9 feminine) and 20 Para cross-country snowboarding medal occasions (9 male, 9 feminine and a couple of gender-free) in 2026. In complete there will likely be 180 athlete quota spots, cut up 110 for males and 70 for ladies.

Para Ice Hockey

The Para ice hockey competitors is an open workforce event with eight feminine slots and 136 gender-free athlete slots. There’s one medal occasion, with the USA aiming to win a fifth successive Paralympic title.

Para Snowboard

Snowboard will characteristic eight medal occasions (6 male, 2 feminine), and there will likely be 85 athlete quota spots (65 for males, 20 for ladies). A call will likely be taken at a later date whether or not 4 of the eight medal occasions will likely be banked slalom or twin banked.

Wheelchair Curling

For the primary time in Paralympic Winter Video games historical past, wheelchair curling will characteristic two medal occasions – the blended workforce event and the blended doubles event. There will likely be 66 athlete quota spots (18 male, 18 feminine and 30 gender-free).

In regards to the IPC

The IPC acts because the worldwide federation for six Para sports activities:

• World Para Athletics
• World Para Dance Sport
• World Para Ice Hockey
• World Para Powerlifting
• World Capturing Para Sport
• World Para Swimming

The IPC’s imaginative and prescient is to make for an inclusive world although Para sport.