50 years after the premiere in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, the 14th Paralympic Winter Games will take place in Milan and Cortina. Sportschau.de answers the most important questions.
When does it start?
On March 6th, the Paralympic Winter Games will be ceremoniously opened in the Roman Amphitheater in Verona. On the following nine days the competitions take place in Milan, Cortina and Tesero. The closing ceremony will take place on March 15th in Cortina.
Where and in which sports are the medals awarded?
A total of 79 medal decisions are pending in six different sports. More than 650 athletes from around 50 nations are taking part in Italy.
The competitions take place in Cortina d’Ampezzo Para alpine skiing, Para snowboard and Wheelchair curling instead of. Tesero is the venue for Para biathlon and Para cross-country skiing. The Para ice hockeytournament takes place in Milan. There will be a premiere in wheelchair curling, where there will be a mixed doubles competition for the first time.
Who is there for Germany?
The German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) is at the start with the second largest team in history: 40 athletes (eleven women, 29 men) and eight guides will fight for the medals. Only in Lillehammer 1994 were there more athletes, 43.
Around half of the German team is celebrating their Paralympics debut in Milan and Cortina. This also includes 13 para ice hockey players who were able to qualify for the Winter Games with the national team for the first time in 20 years. There is only no German team in wheelchair curling.
Are Russian and Belarusian athletes there?
Yes. For the first time since the 2022 Winter Olympics, the two warmongering countries are returning to the world sporting stage following the invasion of Ukraine. The General Assembly of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) voted by a majority in September 2025 to lift the suspension of the two countries, relying on a “democratic process“called.
Six Russians and four Belarusians received a so-called wild card for the games in Milan and Cortina. For the first time in four years, the Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete under their own flag, show national emblems and, if successful, hear their anthem.
What were the reactions?
Immediately after the IPC’s decision, the Ukrainian team declared that it would boycott the opening ceremony. Ukrainian government officials also announced that they would be staying away from all official Paralympics events. Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic subsequently also announced that they would not take part in the opening ceremony on March 6th in Verona. Host Italy expressed its “strict rejection” out of.
How is Germany positioning itself?
The DBS clearly criticized the process, but initially announced that it would take part in the opening ceremony. You want the focus “focus on sporting competitions“, said DBS President Hans Jörg-Michels. The turning point came on Tuesday (March 3rd): three days before the opening ceremony, the DBS expressed solidarity with Ukraine and announced that it would also stay away from the invasion of the nations. Accordingly, no German athletes and officials will be sent to the amphitheater in Verona.
The decision serves “both the concentration on the upcoming competitions and the concern to respectfully express the solidarity attitude towards the Ukrainian delegation”justified the DBS. However, this does not represent a complete boycott of the opening ceremony. The German team will be visible in the recordings recorded in advance at the various venues, which will be shown in the stadium and on television during the ceremony.
What are the sporting objectives of the DBS?
The aim of the German association is to be among the top six nations in the medal table. Four years ago, Germany finished seventh at the Beijing Games and won 19 medals (4 gold, 8 silver, 7 bronze).
That should also be the minimum goal in Milan and Cortina, as Marc Möllmann, Director of Competitive Sports at DBS and Chef de Mission, announced. Broadly speaking, the competing nations are the USA, Canada, China and Ukraine.unbeatable“In the all-time medal table, Germany is in first place with 141 gold medals.
Who are the Germans? Medal hopes?
The German team is particularly promising in alpine and Nordic sports. The sporting figurehead is undoubtedly monoskier Anna-Lena Forster, who won four gold medals in Pyeongchang in 2018 and in Beijing in 2022. In Cortina, the 30-year-old will also be the top favorite in all five disciplines (downhill, giant slalom, slalom, super G, super combined).
In para cross-country skiing and para biathlon, hopes rest on the visually impaired Leonie Walter and Linn Kazmeier. Both won gold in Beijing four years ago. Germany’s Para Athlete of the Year 2025, Johanna Recktenwald, as well as Lennart Volker, Nico Messinger, Anja Wicker and Marco Maier are also among the medal contenders.
In para snowboarding, where from a German perspective only Christian Schmiedt competes, Paralympic precious metal is probably out of reach. This also applies to the German para ice hockey team, which has set fifth place as a realistic goal.
Who else is in focus?
The Para cross-country skiers Kathrin Marchand (2024, Paris, Para rowing) and Merle Menje (2021, Tokyo, Para athletics) are now starting in winter for the first time after taking part in the Summer Paralympics. Marchand is the first athlete in the world to compete in three different editions of the Games, having competed in the 2016 Olympics in rowing. So far only the Dutchman Jeroen Straathof (1994, 2000 and 2004) has achieved this.
From a German perspective, the “perennial favorite” is 54-year-old Andrea Eskau (para cycling in the summer), who will be taking part in her ninth Paralympics. In addition, 14-time Paralympic medalist Andrea Rothfuss is taking part in her sixth Winter Paralympics in a row.
The oldest athlete in the German team is Para ice hockey player Jörg Wedde at 60 years old. The youngest is Maya Fügenschuh (Para Alpine Skiing) who is 17 years old.
How to be fair Performance comparisons enabled?
In Para alpine skiing, Para cross-country skiing and Para biathlon, the athletes are divided into three different starting classes depending on the type and extent of the disability: sitting, standing and visually impaired (with a guide). Within these categories there are separate competitions for women and men.
In addition, a percentage system (time factor) is used so that different disability classes within a category can be evaluated comparably. This means that the time of severely impaired athletes runs slower than that of less severely impaired athletes.
An example: For a blind athlete (classification B1) the time runs slower in competition than for a severely visually impaired athlete (classification B2).
Where can you watch the competitions?
ARD and ZDF take turns broadcasting as usual. From March 7th to 10th there will be live segments on linear television on ZDF, from March 11th ARD will take over and broadcast live for up to six hours on five days.
All medal decisions can also be seen in more than 100 hours of live stream. There will be an audio description and all competitions will have live subtitles. Reports, background information, analyzes and summaries are available daily as video, audio and text on sportschau.de and in the Sportschau app.
Source: with material from sid and dpa
