CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The International Paralympic Committee is celebrating the biggest ever Paralympic Winter Games in history and a record female participation at Milan Cortina.
The Games will officially kick off on Friday with an opening ceremony that is set to be boycotted by some nations because of the return of the Russian flag and national anthem to the global stage.
The IPC said Thursday that a record number of 56 nations are bringing 616 athletes to compete across 79 medal events in six sports, surpassing the previous record of 564 athletes from 49 nations at Pyeongchang 2018.
Among the nations set to participate at Milan Cortina is Iran despite the intensifying war with the United States and Israel. Para cross-country skier Aboulfazl Khatibi was announced as the nation's flagbearer.
He will not actually carry the flag on Friday as volunteers will be handed the task for all nations because not all flagbearers will be able to attend the ceremony in Verona for logistics and training issues.
The Milan Cortina Games mark the 50th anniversary of the Winter Paralympics. Less than 200 athletes from 18 countries competed in two sports in Ornskoldsvik in 1976.
A record number of female athletes will compete for the fourth straight Paralympic Winter Games, the IPC said.
There will be 160 female competitors at Milan Cortina, 24 more than the previous record in Beijing 2022.
“That's fantastic,” U.S. wheelchair curler Laura Dwyer said when told about the female participation record. “As a female, as a mom, as someone injured ... it feels amazing to be a part of that, to show the way for others."
The 48-year-old Dwyer had a life-threatening accident in 2012 when she was working as a landscaper and an 1,000-pound tree branch fell on her. She was left paralyzed from the waist down.
"Anyone can just go for it,” she said.
Six different nations will bring record numbers of female athletes: Australia (5), Belarus (3), Brazil (3), Croatia (2), Korea (6) and Latvia (4).
Five sports will have a record number of female competitors: Para alpine skiing (57), Para biathlon (45), Para cross-country skiing (65), Para snowboard (15) and wheelchair curling (25).
In Para ice hockey, which is a mix-gender event, a female athlete will compete for the second consecutive time and the fourth-time ever since the sport was included in the Games.
There are five countries debuting at the Winter Paralympics: El Salvador, Haiti, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Portugal.
China, which topped the medal count for the first time at Beijing 2022, brought the biggest delegation with 70 athletes, followed by the U.S. with 68 and Canada with 46. Italy has 42 athletes competing at home, it biggest roster ever.
Six other nations sent their biggest delegations ever to a Paralympic Winter Games: Brazil (8), Czech Republic (24), Kazakhstan (7), Latvia (7), Slovakia (28) and Ukraine (25).
“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," IPC executive director Colleen Wrenn said. "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.”
AP Winter Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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