IPC supported athletes enjoy medal success at Milano Cortina 2026

Four athletes and two guides that benefitted from International Paralympic Committee (IPC) support ahead of Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games won 10 medals between them at the event. 

Czechia’s Simona Bubenickova won three silver medals and a bronze, Slovakia’s Alexandra Rexova secured three bronze medal finishes, while Poland’s Michal Golas took home a silver and a bronze. All three benefitted from IPC Sport for Mobility Competition Support Grants which enabled them to compete at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Trondheim 2025. Cristian Westemaier Ribeira, a beneficiary of several IPC development programmes dating back to 2015, made history as he secured a silver medal, Brazil’s first ever Paralympic Winter Games podium finish. 

Paralympic debutant Bubenickova contributed an impressive four out of six medals as Czechia enjoyed its most successful Paralympic Winter Games in terms of medal wins since Nagano 1998. The teenager won two silver medals in Para cross-country skiing and a silver and bronze medal in Para biathlon. 

"I’m very happy because I started biathlon about a year ago, and now I’m here at the Paralympic Winter Games, with two medals from Para biathlon. It is unbelievable,” explained Bubenickova 

"I am still young, I hope I have many Paralympic Winter Games ahead of me, and that I will get better and better for each Games."  

Thanks to the silver and bronze medals won by debutant Michal Golas and his guide Kacper Walas in Para alpine skiing for athletes with a vision impairment, Poland secured its highest medal tally at a Paralympic Winter Games since Torino 2006. 

Alexandra Rexova and guide Matus Duris won all three bronze medals for Slovakia in Para alpine skiing events for athletes with a vision impairment. 

Competing at his third Winter Games having made his Paralympic debut as a 15-year-old at PyeongChang 2018, Ribeira made global headlines as he secured silver in the men’s Para cross-country sprint sitting event. 

Ribeira said: "It was always my dream. When I started to compete in this sport, I thought I would be a Paralympian. After I did that, my goal was to win a medal. And now it’s happened, so I’m very, very proud.  

"We always train so hard in Brazil. We don’t have snow so we have to train on roller skis. It’s very different, it’s very difficult, but I’m here, representing Brazil and I’m very happy."  

In total, 39 athletes and four guides representing 23 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) competed at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games having benefitted from IPC sport development programmes. 

Kristina Molloy, the IPC’s Deputy CEO, said: “As part of the IPC’s commitment to further develop Paralympic winter sports worldwide, we are thrilled that four athletes and two guides we supported through our sport development programmes secured podium finishes at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. This is an incredible achievement, and our congratulations go to all the athletes, guides, NPCs and International Federations involved. 

“For several years now, most recently through our Sport for Mobility programme, the IPC has been providing grants to NPCs and International Federations to support athletes to compete at the very highest level. Such experiences have proven extremely valuable helping to expand the diversity of competitors in these major events. 

“To see four athletes and two guides who have benefitted from IPC programmes on the podium several times during Milano Cortina 2026 is extremely rewarding and gives us greater encouragement about what impact Sport for Mobility will have on the LA28 Paralympic Games and French Alps 2030 Paralympic Winter Games.”  

The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games were a record-breaking success with a record 611 Para athletes from 55 NPCs contesting 79 medal events.  For the fourth successive Paralympic Winter Games there were a record number 160 female athletes, 18 per cent more than Beijing 2022. 

Highlighting the growing strength of Paralympic winter sport, 27 NPCs won medals, the highest number ever. Eighteen NPCs won gold medals a joint record high, equalling the record set at PyeongChang 2018.  

Among the 55 competing nations were five debutant NPCs, including four – El Salvador, Haiti, Montenegro and North Macedonia – who all benefitted from funding support from the IPC’s Sport for Mobility programme over the last 12 months to qualify for the Games.