2026 Winter Paralympics Parade of Nations

During the Parade of Nations within the Milano and Cortina d'Ampezzo 2026 Winter Paralympics opening ceremony, athletes and officials from each participating country marched in the Verona Arena preceded by their flag and placard bearer. Each flag bearer had been chosen either by the nation's National Paralympic Committee or by the athletes themselves.

Parade order

Nations marched in the order of the host language, Italian language. Italy entered last as host, and the United States entered third-to-last as upcoming hosts, France entered second-to-last as upcoming hosts.[1]

List

The following is a list of each country's flag bearer.[1] The list is sorted by the sequence that each nation appeared in the parade of nations. The names are given in their official designations by the International Paralympic Committee, and the Italian names follow their official designations by the Milano Cortina Organizing Committee for the Paralympic Games.

Order Nation Italian Flag bearer Sport Ref.
1  Andorra Andorra Roger Puig Davi Para alpine skiing
2  Argentina Argentina Enrique Plantey Para alpine skiing
3  Armenia Armenia Garik Melkonyan Para cross-country skiing
4  Australia Australia Georgia Gunew Para alpine skiing [2]
Ben Tudhope Para snowboard
5  Austria Austria Veronika Aigner Para alpine skiing [3]
Markus Salcher
6  Belgium Belgio Maximilien Seeger Para alpine skiing
7  Belarus Bielorussia Lidziya Loban Para cross-country skiing
8  Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia Erzegovina Ilma Kazazić Para alpine skiing
9  Brazil Brasile Aline Rocha Para cross-country skiing
Cristian Ribera
10  Bulgaria Bulgaria Stela Yanchovichina Para alpine skiing
11  Canada Canada Tyler McGregor Para ice hockey [4]
Natalie Wilkie Para cross-country skiing
12  Czech Republic Cechia No flagbearers[a]
13  Chile Cile Nicolás Bisquertt Para alpine skiing
14  China Repubblica Popolare Cinese Liu Sitong Para alpine skiing [9]
Ji Lijia Para snowboard
15  South Korea Repubblica di Corea Kim Yun-ji Para cross-country skiing [10]
Lee Yong-suk Wheelchair curling
16  Croatia Croazia Lucija Smetiško Para alpine skiing
Dino Sokolović
17  Denmark Danimarca Adam Nybo Para alpine skiing
18  El Salvador El Salvador David Chavez Para cross-country skiing
19  Estonia Estonia No flagbearers[a]
20  Finland Finlandia No flagbearers[a]
21  Georgia Georgia Temuri Dadiani Para cross-country skiing
22  Germany Germania Anna-Lena Forster Para alpine skiing [11]
Jörg Wedde Para ice hockey
23  Japan Giappone Aki Ogawa Wheelchair curling [12]
Junta Kosuda Para snowboard
24  Great Britain Gran Bretagna Menna Fitzpatrick Para alpine skiing [13]
Scott Meenagh Para biathlon
25  Greece Grecia Eva Nikou Para alpine skiing
Konstantinos Petrakis Para snowboard
26  Haiti Haiti Ralf Étienne Para alpine skiing
27  Iceland Islanda Arna Albertsdóttir Para cross-country skiing
28  Israel Israele Sheina Vaspi Para alpine skiing
29  Kazakhstan Kazakistan Nurlan Alimov Para cross-country skiing
30  Latvia Letonia No flagbearers[a]
31  Liechtenstein Liechtenstein Sarah Hundert Para alpine skiing
32  Lithuania Lituania No flagbearers[a]
33  North Macedonia Macedonia del Nord Zoran Jovanovski Para alpine skiing
34  Mexico Messico Arly Velásquez Para alpine skiing
35  Mongolia Mongolia Tsegmidiin Dashdorj Para cross-country skiing
36  Montenegro Montenegro Andrej Šibalić Para snowboard
37  Norway Norvegia Vilde Nilsen Para cross-country skiing
Jesper Pedersen Para alpine skiing
38  New Zealand Nuova Zelanda Adam Hall Para alpine skiing [14]
39  Netherlands Paesi Bassi Claire Petit Para alpine skiing
Jeroen Kampschreur
40  Poland Polonia No flagbearers[a]
41  Puerto Rico Porto Rico Orlando Pérez Para alpine skiing
42  Portugal Portogallo Diogo Carmona Para snowboard
43  Romania Romania Mihăiță Papară Para snowboard
44  Russia Federazione Russa Anastasiia Bagiian Para cross-country skiing
Alexey Bugaev Para alpine skiing
45  Serbia Serbia Luka Bilčar Para alpine skiing
46  Slovakia Slovacchia Miroslav Haraus Para alpine skiing
47  Slovenia Slovenia Tabea Dolžan Para cross-country skiing
48  Spain Spagna Audrey Pascual Para alpine skiing [15]
49  Sweden Svezia Ebba Årsjö Para alpine skiing
Zebastian Modin Para cross-country skiing
50  Switzerland Svizzera Theo Gmür Para alpine skiing
51  Ukraine Ucraina No flagbearers[a]
52  Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Yulduz Makhmudova Para alpine skiing
Firdavs Khudoyatov
53  United States Stati Uniti d'America Laurie Stephens Para alpine skiing [16]
Josh Paul Para ice hockey
54  France Francia Cécile Hernandez Para snowboard [17]
Jordan Broisin Para alpine skiing
55  Italy Italia Chiara Mazzel Para alpine skiing [18]
René De Silvestro

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g The Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine boycotted the opening ceremony in protest against the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their national flags and anthems at the Paralympics.[5][6][7][8]

References

  1. ^ a b "Flagbearers for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games". International Paralympic Committee. 5 March 2026. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  2. ^ "Aussies name flag-bearers for Winter Paralympics opening ceremony". ABC News. 5 March 2026. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  3. ^ Mödl, Matthias (5 March 2026). "Austria boycotts the opening ceremony". Kronen Zeitung. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  4. ^ Dichter, Myles (27 February 2026). "McGregor, Wilkie surprised by flag-bearer honour ahead of Milan Cortina Paralympics". Prince George Citizen. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  5. ^ MacInnes, Paul (5 March 2026). "Seven countries to boycott Paralympics ceremony over flag-flying Russians". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 March 2026.
  6. ^ "Nederlandse officials uit protest niet naar openingsceremonie Paralympische Spelen". nos.nl (in Dutch). 24 February 2026. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
  7. ^ MacInnes, Paul (28 February 2026). "Winter Paralympics walks tightrope as Russia's inclusion risks ceremony boycott". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
  8. ^ "More nations skip Milano Cortina Paralympics opening ceremony as boycott grows". Reuters. 27 February 2026.
  9. ^ "Liu, Ji named China's flagbearers for Winter Paralympics opening ceremony - China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  10. ^ "50th Winter Paralympics Open Amid Boycotts". The Chosun Daily. 7 March 2026. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  11. ^ "Forster and veteran Wedde German flag bearers at Paralympics opener". Yahoo Sports. 5 March 2026. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  12. ^ "Paralympics: Japan heads to Winter Games with biggest team in decades". Mainichi Daily News. 4 March 2026. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  13. ^ "Ski duo named GB's Winter Paralympics flagbearers". BBC Sport. 3 March 2026. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  14. ^ Day, John. "Meet New Zealand's Winter Paralympics powerful team of two". www.rova.nz. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  15. ^ "Audrey Pascual será la abanderada española en los Juegos Paralímpicos de Invierno de Milán Cortina 2026". paralimpicos.es (in Spanish). 16 February 2026. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  16. ^ "Josh Pauls, Laurie Stephens chosen as Team USA flagbearers for 2026 Milan Cortina Paralympics". NBC Sports. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  17. ^ Burgaud, Florian (30 January 2026). "2026 Olympics: Clément Noël and Chloé Trespeuch elected flag-bearers for the French delegation at the opening ceremony". Nordic Mag. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  18. ^ "Italy's 4 flag bearers for Milan Cortina Winter Olympics honored in handover ceremony". AP News. 22 December 2025. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
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