Milano Cortina 2026: Top moments from Day 9

On Day 9, the final medals of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games were awarded in Para ice hockey, Para alpine skiing and Para cross-country skiing before the Closing Ceremony.

USA win fifth straight Para ice hockey gold

The last competition of the Games finished with USA winning their fifth straight Para ice hockey gold medal, with a 6-2 win over rivals Canada.

“I want this one the most,” USA’s three-time gold medallist and all-time Paralympic leading scorer Delan Farmer said ahead of his team's challenge. “It's a new group. I’m older in my career, I’ve put more of my heart into it. It's always about the next one."

With the victory, the USA also became the first country to sweep all three Paralympic and Olympic hockey tournaments at a single Games, after the women’s and men’s national teams won gold at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in February. 

Jack Wallace delivered a historic performance with a hat-trick and an assist in the final. Kayden Beasley, Declan Farmer - assisted by Wallace - and Brody Roybal, both shorthanded, completed the score for USA. Liam Hickey scored both goals for Canada. 

China take second bronze

China claimed a second successive Paralympic bronze medal as they staged a thrilling comeback to beat Czechia 3-2 at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Czechia, the 2025 World Championships bronze medallists, were looking for their first podium finish at the Paralympic Winter Games and they started strongly, opening up a 2-0 lead in the first three minutes. China quickly fought back, making it 2-2 before the end of the first period.  

With action at both ends of the ice, and both goaltenders put to the test, Tian scored his second just 18 seconds into the third period to seal the win.

“No matter what happens in a game, we never give up until the very last moment,"  Zhidong Wang said.

"Whether we are down 2-0, 3-0, or even 4-0, as long as there is one minute or even one second left, we will fight with everything we have. I’m extremely excited, truly thrilled”.

Italy’s Bertagnolli claims slalom gold

Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli secured his fifth medal of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games by winning gold in the men’s slalom vision impaired event.

The home favourite finished with a medal from every race he contested, surpassing his previous Games best of four medals at both Beijing 2022 and PyeongChang 2018.

"I have no words to explain. We finally finished,” Bertagnolli said after his final race of the Games. "Five medals in five races. It's a new record for me. I'm so happy because we worked so hard to come here, to arrive here prepared to do our best, and we did it. It's awesome."

Michal Golas of Poland took silver, while Canada’s Kalle Ericsson secured bronze. Austria’s Johannes Aigner, race favourite, finished fourth to narrowly miss out on claiming his own fifth medal of the Games.

Betagnolli’s five medals contributed as host nation Italy enjoyed their best-ever Paralympic Winter Games winning 16 medals. Italy’s previous highest number of medal wins was 13 at Lillehammer 1994.

Golden hat-trick for Kampschreur

Jeroen Kampschreur won his third gold of the Games for the Netherlands in the men's slalom sitting event. 

"A hat-trick of golds at these Games, this is bizarre. This was the perfect way to finish it off, crazy really,” he said.

"Honestly, beforehand I said that this wasn't quite my slope for slalom, but with the snow conditions we had today, I was able to outclass everyone. That's quite special. I could really benefit from the conditions today, and that led to gold."

China podium takeover in 20km 

In the men’s standing interval start 20km Para cross-country competition, China had a complete takeover of the podium, winning the gold, silver and bronze medals in the category.

Chenyang Wang took the top spot, with gold ahead of compatriots Lingxin Huang who took silver and Xiaobin Liu with bronze.

"I'm very proud that the Chinese team won all the three medals. It's a milestone for the Chinese team that could encourage more engagement in this sport. It was unexpected to win all three medals, even for us. But we did our best to win this competition,” said Wang. 

Clean Para cross-country sweep for Jake Adicoff 

USA’s Jake Adicoff succeeded in his goal of getting gold in all his Para cross-country events at Milano Cortina 2026. He clinched his fourth and final gold in the 20km event with guide Peter Wolter, securing his clean sweep of the Paralympics. 

“Four races, four gold medals, that was the goal. It was really hard but it was so rewarding to do it. That was my goal since four years ago, it’s been in my mind ever since then,” said Adicoff. 

"It’s incredibly scary to put a high goal out to the public. I was doubting it so much this week, I didn’t know what was going to happen, but the races came together and I’m just overjoyed."