Milano Cortina 2026: Para biathlon vision impaired competition explained
Germany’s Leonie Maria Walter explains how athletes with vision impairments hit their targets 12 Mar 2026
Ahead of the last day of Para biathlon for the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, Germany’s Leonie Maria Walter gives us insights into how athletes with vision impairments excel in this sport.
Para biathlon has captured the attention of the world at the Tesero Cross-Country Stadium with its fascinating mix of physical endurance on the ski slopes and technical precision on the shooting range. Athletes race different distances around a looped course. Between laps they stop and try to slow down their heartbeats at the shooting range where they try to hit five targets. Each missed shot on the range causes either a time penalty, or the requirement to ski a penalty loop, depending on the event.
In every category, a formula is used within each sport class to adjust the real time in order to get the final factored time. The athlete with the fastest competition result wins.
Skiing with a guide is down to good communication
The physical endurance of the sport comes in the form of freestyle skiing, over distances between 7.5 and 12.5 kilometres. In Para biathlon, athletes with visual impairments can opt to use a sighted guide to help navigate. The guide plays a fundamental supporting role, anticipating the athlete’s needs by skiing ahead and constantly communicating to direct the many twists, turns, slopes, and descents on the course.
“When I ski the guide speaks directly to me, he skis ahead and looks back and gives commands. He wears a microphone and has a speaker on his back so I can hear him,” Walter explained.
The intensity picks up on downhills, with the guide providing essential direction.
“He’ll advise a turn to the left or to the right. On the downhill sections I will grab his pole to have a better feeling for the direction. He helps me all the time over the track.”
Most Para athletes train regularly with their guides, building long term partnerships. Walter competes with guide Christian Krasman. Together they took the bronze medal in the Para biathlon women’s sprint vision impaired event on 7 March.
“I normally train regularly outside with my guide; we train five or six times a week together. I’ve raced with him for three years.”
@Buda Mendes/Getty Images
Aiming for the target
One of the questions spectators and those new to the sport often ask is: ‘How do you shoot a target if you can’t see it?’. It all comes down to sound. At the range, the skiers are assisted by acoustic signals to help them pinpoint the target.
“My guide helps me come directly, straight in line to the target at the shooting map, so that I don’t need so much time to search for the target,” Walter shared.
“When I’m shooting, my guide doesn’t have to say anything. I hear a tone with the headphones: the higher the tone, the nearer I am to the target. When I’m at the centre of the target the tone is very high.”
In a competition like the Paralympic Games, the crowd can make a lot of noise, and the ambient sound of the event is a factor Para athletes must consider.
“It’s not easy to concentrate on the shooting range. You hear the speakers in the stadium, the whole noise of the crowd, and you have to concentrate on that important tone for you. Every time I try to focus only on what I hear in the headphones,” Walter said.
“We try in training to simulate the louder background noise with different intensities at the shooting range, so we know the concentration simulation.”
Representation is important says Walter
For Walter, having vision impaired events at the Games is essential to show the world what these athletes can achieve.
“I think it’s important that so many people see us and other people with disabilities race. It can show that everyone can do sports...you don’t need to have good vision or the perfect body. You just try to find whatever way you need to take part in sports,” Walter said.
The final Para biathlon day of the Milano Cortina Paralympic Games starts at 09:45 CET on 13 March at Tesero Cross-Country Stadium.
Where to watch and listen to the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games
Secure your tickets for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games
Milano Cortina 2026, which takes place from 6-15 March 2026, is set to be the most beautiful Paralympic Winter Games yet. Ticket prices start at EUR 10 for children under 14, with approximately 89 per cent of the tickets available for EUR 35 or less.
For more information, please visit tickets.milanocortina2026.org
