Winter Games in Italy
Hanoverian carries the German flag at the Paralympics
March 6, 2026 – 4:08 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Ice hockey player Jörg Wedde has a special task at the opening of the Paralympic Winter Games. However, this will feel different than in the past.
The 2026 Paralympic Winter Games begin on Friday in Italy – and an ice hockey player from Lower Saxony is one of two German flag bearers. The German team selected Jörg Wedde from the ERC Hannover Ice Lions.
Wedde reacted with surprise. He reported that he was called to a Team D Paralympics meeting and at first thought that he had done something wrong. “I’m not someone who pushes myself into the foreground and others deserve it too,” the 60-year-old continued. “But of course I’m happy about this honor.”
The leg amputee took part in the Paralympic Games in Turin in 2006. Karl Finke, President of the Lower Saxony Disabled Sports Association (BSN), said of him: “Jörg Wedde is a para-ice hockey veteran.”
However, the opening ceremony in the Amphitheater in Verona will take place without teams. All flag bearers are only shown on the screen via video, so the flags are not carried into the theater in person. The International Paralympic Committee justified this with organizational difficulties: for example, the travel distances between the competition venues in Milan, Cortina and Tesero as well as the venue in Verona were too long.
Ski racer Anna-Lena Forster is the second German flag bearer. She criticizes the video format: “A lot is lost.”
Especially since the games in Italy are the largest Paralympic Winter Games in history. As the organizers announced, 612 participants from 56 countries qualified. The previous record was 564 athletes from 48 delegations – set in Pyeongchang in 2018.
In addition to Wedde, three other Hanoverians represent the German team: his ice hockey teammates Malte Brelage, Simon Kunst and Felix Schrader are also there.
