March 6: Arena di Verona, the historic Roman amphitheater in northern Italy, will provide a stunning backdrop for the opening ceremony of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Paralympic Winter Games.

While Arena di Verona’s façade may retain some of its original features, the Paralympic Winter Games in their current form are almost unrecognizable when compared to the pioneering Games held in Ørnsjöldsvik, Sweden in 1976.

The 2026 Milan-Cortina Paralympics, to be held from March 6 to 15, will mark the 50th anniversary of the Paralympic Winter Games.

A total of 665 Para athletes from 50 National Paralympic Committees will gather in Italy to compete in 79 medal events across six sports: Para Alpine Skiing, Para Biathlon, Para Cross Country, Para Ice Hockey, Para Snowboarding and Wheelchair Curling.

Örnsköldsvik 1976 could not be more in contrast. The first edition attracted 198 athletes from 16 countries, competing in two disciplines: para-alpine skiing and para-cross-country skiing. There were also competitions for athletes with amputations and visually impaired athletes.

1st Paralympic Winter Games

Ola Olsson was part of the 1976 Organizing Committee for the 1976 Ernsjöldsvik Games as Chair of the Para-Cross-Country Skiing Committee. This is the first time we are hosting a parasports tournament.

“It was fun, educational and an honor to be part of the organizing staff. I had experience organizing competitions for people without disabilities and had good organization around me,” he recalled.

“It was a great experience getting to know the talent of the athletes, especially from the Nordic countries. It was also fun to see how the skiers supporting them tackled the challenges.”

Sweden’s Birgitta Sund was the poster girl of the first Games, winning three Paralympic gold medals in para cross-country skiing, while West Germany topped the medal rankings with 10 gold, 12 silver and six bronze medals.

1980s Paralympic Winter Games

In 1980, the second Paralympic Winter Games were held in Gairo, Norway. Ice sledge speed skating was added as a medal event, with 26 athletes from five countries participating.

However, it was host country Norway that stole the show with new events, thanks to British skier Miaasund Oijen, who won all three gold medals in para cross-country skiing and two gold medals in para cross-country skiing. Norway also topped the medal rankings with 54 medals, including 23 gold medals.

Innsbruck became the first city to host the Olympic Games twice in a row, in 1984 and 1988. With the addition of downhill competition to para-alpine skiing, the medal events have also expanded.

The 1988 Olympics were supposed to be Knut Lundström’s event. Knut Lundström etched his name in Paralympic history by achieving an unprecedented feat at a Winter Olympics, winning a total of seven medals in para cross-country skiing and ice sledge speed skating.

1990s Paralympic Winter Games

The 1992 Tignes-Albertville attracted 365 para-athletes from 24 delegations who competed for 79 medals in three sports. Nineteen of the 24 participating delegations won at least one medal, giving the United States the lead in medals for the first time in the history of the Winter Paralympic Games.

The competition was held in Norway for the second time in 1994 in Lillehammer. A total of 469 Para athletes from 31 countries competed in 133 medal events across five sports, including Para Ice Hockey for the first time.

Sweden defeated the host nation to become the first gold medalist in the competition. Ragnhild Myklbst achieved legendary status with nine medals (5 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze) in ice sledge speed skating, para-biathlon and para-cross-country skiing, a record that still stands to this day.

In 1998, Japan became the first country outside Europe to host the Paralympic Winter Games. More than 560 athletes competed in front of more than 150,000 spectators who gathered in the city to watch the competition in five sports.

The Winter Paralympic Games continue to evolve

The evolution and growth of the Winter Paralympic Games continues unabated, breaking new ground and setting new records at each event over the past 30 years. The Paralympic movement has reached many milestones, from the addition of wheelchair curling at Turin 2006 in 2006, to record ticket sales in Vancouver in 2010, to Para-snowboarding’s Paralympic debut in Sochi 2014.

The Beijing 2022 Games were full of sporting achievements and historic firsts. While the young athletes delivered exceptional performances, the veterans showed their superiority on the snow and ice.

The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympic Games, to be held from March 6 to 15, is expected to be the most beautiful Paralympic Winter Games in history. A new medal event will be added to wheelchair curling, a sport introduced to Italy’s Paralympic program 20 years ago.

In his address on the official program of the 1976 Ornsjöldsvik Games, Bengt Hollen, president of the Swedish Disabled Sports Organization, said that the first edition had been approached with “thrill and interest” and declared that the event represented “a significant step forward in the history of the national and international disability sports movement”.

Mr. Hollen never dreamed that the seeds sown 50 years ago in Sweden would blossom into the global celebration of sporting endeavor and achievement that we know today.

Learn more about each event at the Paralympic Winter Games