Milano Cortina 2026: Pancalli wants Games to help promote diversity in Italy

With two years to go until the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, Luca Pancalli, president of the Italian Paralympic Committee, expressed hope that the Games will help promote diversity in the host country.

The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, which open on 6 March 2026, will showcase 79 medal events across six sports – Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country skiing, Para ice hockey, Para snowboard and wheelchair curling. One new medal event – wheelchair curling mixed doubles – will be featured for the first time at the Paralympic Games.

“Exactly two years before the greatest sporting event, we are increasingly determined to confirm a collective commitment that must go beyond the accessibility of the competition venues we are dealing with the (Milano Cortina 2026) Foundation and the International Paralympic Committee,” Pancalli said.

“The Milano Cortina 2026 Games in fact represent an opportunity and challenge in cultural and infrastructural terms, which does not only concern the Organising Committee or the athletes, but also the institutions, companies and each of us.

“In the next two years, we hope that this invitation to overcome every barrier, promoting a culture that embraces equality and diversity, can be taken up by the entire country. Only all together, through actions and commitments to support equality in its highest and most concrete meaning, we can promote an Italy in which the terms diversity and disability become an accelerator of growth and development.”

Italy will host the Paralympic Winter Games for the first time since Torino 2006, which saw 474 athletes from 38 countries compete in 58 medal events across five sports. There are 665 athlete quota places for Milano Cortina 2026, and competitions will take place in Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo and Val di Fiemme.

Two years to go

The Milano Cortina 2026 Organising Committee has vowed to organise an “increasingly inclusive” Games.

Diana Bianchedi, Chief Strategy Planning & Legacy Officer of the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation, said, “The Olympics, and especially the Paralympics, offer an important opportunity to stimulate a cultural transformation through sport and to promote commitment towards a more inclusive (society) for all people.

To celebrate the two-year milestone, Milo and Tina, the official mascots for the Games, will visit the construction site of the Paralympic and Olympic Village on 7 March 2024. After the Games, the Village will transform into a modern student residence capable of accommodating the needs of all students, including persons with disabilities.