Paralympic Torch Union Ceremony Held in Cortina as Games Approach March 6
The Paralympic Torch Relay reached its Union Ceremony in Cortina d'Ampezzo on Tuesday, bringing multiple flames together into a single flame three days ahead of the March 6 opening of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games.
Paralympic Flames Converge in Cortina Three Days Before Opening Ceremony
In the mountain resort town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, a ceremony most of the world will not see took place Tuesday morning that matters deeply to the athletes who will. The Union Ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Torch Relay brought together the multiple separate flames that have traveled through Italy since the original lighting at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the United Kingdom on February 24.
They merged into one. A single Paralympic Flame, ready to lead the procession to the Arena di Verona for the Opening Ceremony on Friday, March 6.
The relay has moved through Turin, Milan, Bolzano, Trento, and Trieste before arriving in Cortina. Forty-nine torchbearers carried the flame through Milan's city center on February 25, passing through Largo Cairoli and arriving at Piazza Duomo where synchronized swimmers Giorgio Minisini and Arianna Sacripante lit the Paralympic Cauldron before thousands of spectators.
A Games Overshadowed by World Events
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games arrive in the shadow of two active military conflicts — Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and the rapidly escalating US-Israeli operation against Iran. The Paralympic truce is in effect through March 15, the closing day of the Games. Flights across the Middle East have been disrupted, with athletes and families traveling to Italy from affected regions facing additional logistical challenges.
The Paralympic Movement has historically used the Games as a platform to transcend political division. The 2026 edition carries particular symbolic weight: it marks the 50th anniversary of the first Paralympic Winter Games, held in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden in 1976. The scale is also record-setting — approximately 665 athletes from across the world will compete in 79 medal events across six sports.
Six Sports, Three Clusters, One Arena
Competition will take place across three geographic clusters. Milan will host Para ice hockey at the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena and wheelchair curling, which has already begun with preliminary rounds ahead of the official opening. Cortina d'Ampezzo hosts Para alpine skiing, Para snowboard, and wheelchair curling. Val di Fiemme hosts Para biathlon and Para cross-country skiing at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium.
The Opening Ceremony itself, titled "Life in Motion," is scheduled for Friday evening at the world-renowned Verona Arena — a Roman amphitheatre built in the first century that underwent extensive accessibility renovations ahead of the event. The Closing Ceremony on March 15 will be held at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, the venue that hosted the Opening Ceremony of the 1956 Winter Olympics.
According to Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee, "These Games represent sixty-five years of progress since the first Paralympics were held in Rome. The scale, the venues, and the quality of athletes competing here are a testament to what the Paralympic Movement has built."
Athletes to Watch, and the US Squad
Oksana Masters leads Team USA as its most decorated Winter Paralympian, holding 14 Winter Paralympic medals and five Summer Paralympic medals. She achieved seven medals in seven events at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
For Declan Farmer, captain of the US Para ice hockey team, Cortina represents another bid for gold on behalf of the most successful sled hockey program on earth. Farmer has five Paralympic gold medals. The US team enters the tournament as defending champions.
The wheelchair curling mixed doubles competition at Cortina has already begun, with the first rounds underway before the opening ceremony — a scheduling decision driven by the venue requirements of the closing ceremony. The full competition schedule runs from March 7 through March 15, with the final gold medals awarded at a closing ceremony in the mountains.
Whether the world's attention will be drawn to these mountains — or remain fixed on the conflict unfolding in the Middle East — remains to be seen. The athletes will compete regardless. That has always been the point.
