Russia at the 2026 Winter Paralympics
| Russia at the 2026 Winter Paralympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IPC code | RUS |
| NPC | Russian Paralympic Committee |
| Website | www |
| in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy 6–15 March 2026 | |
| Competitors | 6 (4 men and 2 women) in 3 sports |
| Medals |
|
| Winter Paralympics appearances (overview) | |
| Other related appearances | |
 Soviet Union (1988).svg/40px-Paralympic_flag_(1988-1994).svg.png){kind=small} Unified Team (1992).svg/40px-Paralympic_flag_(2019).svg.png){kind=small} Neutral Paralympic Athletes (2018) | |
Russia will compete at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, between 6 and 15 March 2026.[1] It is Russia's first appearance at the Winter Paralympics under its own flag since 2014, and the country's first appearance at the Paralympics as a whole since 2018.
Background
[edit]The Russian Paralympic Committee remained suspended from the Paralympic movement since 2016, due to the state-sponsored doping programme scandal, but the International Paralympic Committee allowed athletes deemed clean to participate in five sports at 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea: they participated under the Paralympic flag, and the Paralympic anthem was used during ceremonies for those who won gold medals.[2]
On 24 February 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee condemned the breach of the Olympic Truce (which lasts from the beginning of the Olympics through the end of the Paralympics) by Russia and Belarus.[3] On 28 February 2022, the IOC Executive Board further called for Russian and Belarusian athletes not to be included in or allowed to participate in any international sporting event.[4] On 2 March 2022, the IPC declared that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be included independently under or allowed to participate independently under the Paralympic flag, with their results not counting in the medal standings.[5][6] As a result of criticism by several National Paralympic Committees, who threatened to boycott the Games, the IPC announced on 3 March 2022 that they would reverse their earlier decision, banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at the 2022 Winter Paralympics.[7][8][9] The 83 Russian and Belarusian athletes competing in the Games were asked to leave the Olympic Village: among them, 71 Russian athletes were expected to compete in 61 evenrs, with representation in all sports included in the event program. There were 33 athletes qualified in Nordic skiing and biathlon, 10 in alpine skiing, and 6 in snowboarding. The Russian Olympic Committee fielded a 17-player sled hockey team, which had placed third at the last World Championships, and a 5-player wheelchair curling team.
At general assembly in Seoul in September 2025, the IPC voted to revoke sanctions against Russia and Belarus, reacquiring rights and privileges of IPC members. However, since they were not yet able to participate in the competitions organised by the federations, no athlete would have been able to qualify in time for 2026 Winter Paralympics. So, on 17th February 2026, the IPC granted six wildcards to Russian athletes and four to Belarusian for the 2026 Paralympic Games with their flags. As sign of protest, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Poland, and Ukraine will boycott the opening ceremony.
Competitors
[edit]Russia will compete in skiing, cross-country skiing and snowboarding after being granted wild card slots; the athletes are evenly split between male and female.[10] The following is the list of number of competitors participating at the Games per sport/discipline.
| Sport | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Para alpine skiing | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Para cross-country skiing | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Para snowboard | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | 4 | 2 | 6 |
Para alpine skiing
[edit]Russia is scheduled to compete in para alpine skiing.
| Athlete | Class | Event | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | |||
| Alexey Bugaev | LW6/8-2 | Men's downhill standing | N/a | |||||
| Men's super-G standing | N/a | |||||||
| Men's super combined standing | ||||||||
| Men's giant slalom standing | ||||||||
| Men's slalom standing | ||||||||
| Varvara Voronchikhina | LW6/8-2 | Women's downhill standing | N/a | |||||
| Women's giant slalom standing | ||||||||
| Women's super combined | ||||||||
| Women's super-G standing | N/a | |||||||
| Women's slalom standing | ||||||||
Para cross-country skiing
[edit]Russia is scheduled to compete in para cross-country skiing.
- Men
| Athlete | Class | Event | Qualification | Semifinal | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | |||
| Ivan Golubkov | LW11.5 | Men's sprint sitting | ||||||
| Men's 10 km sitting | ||||||||
| Men's 20 km sitting | ||||||||
- Women
| Athlete | Class | Event | Qualification | Semifinal | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | |||
| Anastasiia Bagiian | NS1 | Women's sprint visually impaired |
||||||
| Women's 10 km visually impaired |
||||||||
| Women's 20 km visually impaired |
||||||||
- Mixed
| Athletes | Event | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | ||
| Ivan Golubkov Anastasiia Bagiian |
4 x 2.5 km mixed relay | ||
Para snowboard
[edit]Russia is scheduled to compete in para snowboarding.
- Slalom
| Athlete | Event | Run 1 | Run 2 | Best | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dmitry Fadeyev | Men's banked slalom, SB-LL1 | ||||
| Philipp Shebbo |
- Snowboard cross
| Athlete | Event | Seeding | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | Position | Position | Position | Rank | ||
| Dmitry Fadeyev | Men's snowboard cross, SB-LL1 | ||||||
| Philipp Shebbo | |||||||
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Milano Cortina 2026 | Paralympics New Zealand". www.paralympics.org.nz. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
- ^ "Neutral Paralympic Athletes to compete at PyeongChang 2018", International Paralympic Committee, 29 January 2018
- ^ Shefferd, Neil (24 February 2022). "IOC strongly condemns breach of Olympic Truce by Russian Government". InsideTheGames.biz. Archived from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
- ^ "IOC EB recommends no participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials". International Olympic Committee (Press release). 28 February 2022. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ^ "IPC makes decisions regarding RPC and NPC Belarus" (Press release). International Paralympic Committee. 2 March 2022. Archived from the original on 4 March 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
- ^ Lloyd, Owen (2 March 2022). "Russian and Belarusian athletes to still receive medals at Beijing 2022 despite sanctions". InsideTheGames.biz. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
- ^ "USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland's Letter to Team USA Community Regarding IPC Announcement". Team USA. 2 March 2022.
- ^ "IPC to decline athlete entries from RPC and NPC Belarus for Beijing 2022". paralympic.org. 3 March 2022. Archived from the original on 4 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
- ^ Houston, Michael (3 March 2022). "Athletes from Russia and Belarus banned from competing at Beijing 2022 Paralympics". InsideTheGames.biz. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
- ^ "Russian and Belarussian flags to return at 2026 Paralympics". dw.com. Retrieved 26 February 2026.