Milano Cortina 2026 Closes With Call to Carry Paralympic Spirit Forward

Paralympic athletes were urged to take their ‘brightness’ back to their home countries and ensure the spirit of the Winter Games lived on every day lives, according to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons.

As the curtain came down on the Games of the XIVth Winter Paralympiad in the shadows of mighty Italian Dolomite mountains, Parsons reminded athletes of the power they possessed.

“At the 2026 Milano Cortina Paralympic Games we celebrated that we are different,” he said at the Closing Ceremony on Sunday night. “Let us celebrate something even greater – how those differences brought us together and made us stronger.

“While the Paralympic flame is extinguished it does not fade. It is carried home with every athlete, every spectator bringing a legacy that burns brighter always.”

Sit skier Lauren Parker and team captain Sean Pollard brought the Australian flag into the Cortina Olympic Ice Stadium, which hosted the wheelchair curling at the Paralympics.

Parker is the first Australian Paralympian to be a flagbearer at both a Summer and Winter Games, having shared the role with sprinter James Turner at the 2024 Paris Paralympics Closing Ceremony.

The Cortina Olympic Ice Stadium was bathed in Italy’s national colours of green, white, and red as the theme ‘Italian Souvenir’ spearheaded the ceremony reflecting on the generosity, warmth and national pride of the alpine community hosts.

Over 11 days of competition there were 79 gold medals decided across six sports featuring 611 athletes from 55 countries.

“These Paralympic Games have been a record-breaking success,” Parsons said.

“The biggest and most beautiful Winter Paralympics with more athletes, more nations, more women and more global broadcasts and digital coverage than ever before.”

“Yet, perhaps the greatest legacy of these Games is the shift in perception created by Paralympians.

“When the world watched a skier launch down a mountain, or a Para ice hockey team battle on the ice, something changed.
“Old stereotypes faded. New possibilities appeared,” he said.

The stadium was built for the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the first Games to be broadcast live on television in Europe, and hosted both the Opening and Closing ceremonies.

Seventy years on and the stadium officially ‘closed’ not just the Paralympic Games but the entire 2026 Games experience for Italy, which started with the Olympics opening on February 6.

Giovanni Malago, President of the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2026, acknowledged how both events had changed Italy and the world.

“The spirit of Milano Cortina 2026 has burned brightly as a beacon of light in a world driven by darkness and division. Long live the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Parsons then handed the IPC flag over from the Mayors of both Milan and Cortina to the Presidents of the Côte d’Azur and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions in France – hosts of the 2030 Winter Paralympics.

He called on athletes to meet once again in four years time to continue spreading their Paralympic spirit.

The Australian Paralympic Winter Team completed its 2026 Games campaign with eight top 10 finishes including two medals, a silver and bronze both won by snowboard star Ben Tudhope, to finish 21st on the medal tally.

Margie McDonald, Paralympics Australia