Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics 2026

China topped the medal table, host Italy had its best Winter Paralympics ever, and five nations made their Winter Paralympic debut. The results, the real history made, and a genuine controversy over Russian and Belarusian participation.

By Miles Ashworth · 16 Mar 2026 · 1 min read · United Kingdom edition

Giuseppe Romele, Italian Paralympic cross-country skier, celebrating with the Italian flag at the Tesero cross-country venue during the 2026 Winter Paralympics, March 16, 2026. Photo: Claudio Doliana, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).

The 2026 Winter Paralympics ran March 6 to 15 at the same Milan-Cortina venues as the Olympics, with wheelchair curling starting slightly earlier on March 4. China topped the medal table with 15 gold and 44 total medals, ahead of the United States in second and Russia in third. Host nation Italy had its best-ever Winter Paralympics performance, finishing with 7 gold and 16 total medals.

Several nations made real history in Milan and Cortina. Brazil and Latvia both won their first-ever Winter Paralympic medals, while El Salvador, Haiti, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Portugal all made their Winter Paralympic debuts as competing nations, a genuine expansion of the Games' global reach.

A Real Controversy

These were the first Winter Paralympics since 2014 to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their own flags, a decision that drew real protests and at least one national boycott, notably from Ukraine. It's a genuinely contested question in Para sport right now, not a settled one, and worth understanding as context for how these Games were actually received, not just their results.

Team Korea's Winter Paralympics delegation at a homecoming ceremony, Incheon International Airport, March 17, 2026 (per the Korean-language banner text in the photo). Photo: C_OCED Trainholic, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).