Milano Cortina 2026: Your guide to Team Germany at the Paralympic Winter Games
Meet Team Germany and discover top moments that shaped their journey to Milano Cortina 2026 23 Feb 2026
The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games will showcase the best of Para sport, delivering unforgettable moments in Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country, Para ice hockey, Para snowboard and wheelchair curling.
Up to 665 athletes from around 50 National Paralympic Committees are set to compete from 6–15 March, making Milano Cortina 2026 one of the most anticipated editions of the Paralympic Winter Games.
Discover the German delegation at Milano Cortina 2026 and explore moments that shaped its Paralympic Winter Games journey.
Germany at Milano Cortina 2026
German athletes will compete in more sports than ever before at the Paralympic Winter Games, representing the country in five sports: Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country skiing, Para ice hockey and Para snowboard.
In February, the German National Paralympic Committee announced the athletes and guides who will compete at Milano Cortina, four years after the team won 61 medals, including 18 golds, at Beijing 2022.
“The athletes have worked intensively towards this special moment in recent years. At the Paralympics, they want to reward themselves, show their best performances and make their sport visible,” said Mark Möllmann, who will be Germany's Chef de Mission at Milano Cortina 2026.
Half of the athletes on the delegation are making their Paralympic debut, including 13 Para ice hockey players. The German Para ice hockey team will return to the tournament for the first time since Torino 2006.
Para ice hockey player Jörg Wedde, who played at Torino 2006, is Germany's oldest athlete at 60 years old. His teammate Jano Bussman, who was born a year after Torino 2006, is the youngest on the squad.
Andrea Eskau will be making her ninth Paralympic appearance. Eskau, who will turn 55 in March, has competed at every Summer and Winter Games since making her debut at Beijing 2008, except for the 2022 Winter Games. In the winter, she competes in Para biathlon and Para cross-country skiing, and in the summer, she races in Para cycling.
Other Paralympic champions include four-time Para alpine skiing gold medallist Anna-Lena Forster and Beijing 2022 Para biathlon gold medallist Leonie Maria Walter.
❄️ Germany's Top Moments at Winter Paralympics
Lillehammer 1994: Reinhild Moeller leads Germany’s medal haul
Reinhild Moeller was unstoppable at the Lillehammer 1994 Paralympic Winter Games, leading Germany's medal haul. German athletes earned 64 medals – 25 gold, 21 silver, and 18 bronze – to finish second on the medals table behind hosts Norway.
Moeller won four gold medals in Para alpine skiing for the second straight Games. She was the most successful athlete at Albertville 1992. She continued her domination four years later at Lillehammer 1994, her seventh Paralympics.
Moeller, a summer-winter dual athlete, competed at nine Paralympics, including seven winter and two summer editions. She earned 16 gold medals in Para alpine skiing and three gold medals in Para athletics.
Salt Lake City 2002: Verena Bentele's perfect campaign
Verena Bentele was one biggest stars of the Salt Lake City 2002 Paralympics, capturing four gold medals in as many events. Four years after finishing with one gold at Nagano 1998, the Para cross-country and biathlon athlete was unbeaten in Salt Lake City.
She won the women's 7.5km blind event in Para biathlon and three golds in Para cross-country (women's 15km free technique visually impaired, women's 5km classical technique B1, and women's 10km free technique B1-2).
Bentele continued her success at Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010. Following her retirement, the 12-time Paralympic champion used her sporting experiences to make a difference in Germany as a politician.
Vancouver 2010: Gerd Schoenfelder wins four gold medals in final Paralympic appearance
Para alpine skier Gerd Schoenfelder topped the podium four times at Vancouver 2010, his sixth and final Paralympic appearance.
Schoenfelder was the face of the men's Para alpine skiing standing class for two decades - he bagged 22 medals (16 gold, four silver, and two bronze) across six Games. He is the most decorated male winter Paralympian of all time.
In Vancouver, he topped the podium in the men's downhill, giant slalom, super combined, and super-G events before announcing his retirement the following year.
Schoenfelder, who lost his right arm in an accident, was inspired to compete in Para alpine skiing after reading about German Paralympic champion Alexander Spitz. Schoenfelder made his Paralympic debut at Albertville 1992, and the rest was history.
"To win so many medals was not my previous goal. After my accident in 1989, sport was very important and a good possibility to get back my self-confidence. It started with soccer and skiing, what I had done before," Schoenfelder said when he announced his retirement.
PyeongChang 2018: Unstoppable Andrea Eskau takes the spotlight
Summer-winter dual athlete Andrea Eskau bagged six medals, including two golds in Para biathlon, at PyeongChang 2018.
Just six months after topping the podium in Para cycling at Rio 2016, Eskau went out to prove in PyeongChang that she was also unstoppable on the slopes. In addition to her two golds, she picked up three silver and a bronze in Para cross-country.
In the summer of 2018, she was crowned world champion in Para cycling's H5 road race in Maniago, Italy. She capped an incredible year by being selected as Germany's Female Para Athlete of the Year.
"PyeongChang was really amazing. It was my best Paralympic Games in my life, and I enjoyed it very much," she said.
"The highlights (of 2018) were the gold medals in PyeongChang in the biathlon races. I was really surprised and really happy with that."
Eskau also competed in Para cycling at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
Beijing 2022: Anna-Lena Forster wins two gold and two silver medals
Anna-Lena Forster was the only German athlete to win two gold medals at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. The Para alpine skier topped the podium in the women's super-combined sitting and slalom sitting events at China's Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre.
"I'm not sure which (medal) is the most important one for me because every medal has a big story behind it. Sure, my first gold medal at the Paralympic Games in PyeongChang was a big thing for me. It was my big goal, and I achieved it, which was crazy," Forster said.
"But the gold medal in Beijing, where I can say 'Hey, not only can I do it one time, but also I can do it four years later' was amazing."
At the Maribor 2025 Para Alpine World Ski Championships in February, Forster had a fan club that cheered for her at the finish line. She aims to continue her success in front of her family and friends at Milano Cortina 2026, her fourth Games.
"Cortina is so close to home and a lot of people said they will come and cheer. That is the greatest feeling to know that there will be my friends, my family and it will be a big party there," she said. "The preparation for Cortina will be very intense now. We train a lot every year, but the focus is really on Cortina."
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. Specially-priced Early Bird tickets are available until 6 May 2025.
For more information, please visit tickets.milanocortina2026.org
