Japan at the 2026 Winter Paralympics

Japan at the
2026 Winter Paralympics
Japan at the; 2026 Winter Paralympics
	Flag of Japan
IPC code	JPN
NPC	Japan Paralympic Committee
Website	www.parasports.or.jp (in Japanese)
in Milan & Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy; 6 March 2026 – 15 March 2026
Competitors	44 (34 men and 10 women) in 6 sports
Flag bearers	Aki Ogawa and Junta Kosuda
Medals; Ranked 19th	Gold 0 Silver 3 Bronze 1 Total 4
Winter Paralympics appearances (overview)
	1976; 1980; 1984; 1988; 1992; 1994; 1998; 2002; 2006; 2010; 2014; 2018; 2022; 2026;

Japan was represented at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan & Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, which took place between 6–15 March 2026.^[1] In total, 44 athletes competed.^[2]

Medallists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Silver	Momoka Muraoka	Para alpine skiing	Women's super-G, sitting	9 March
Silver	Momoka Muraoka	Para alpine skiing	Women's giant slalom, sitting	12 March
Silver	Daichi Oguri	Para snowboard	Men's banked slalom, SB-LL1	13 March
Bronze	Takeshi Suzuki	Para alpine skiing	Men's slalom, sitting	15 March

Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors participating at the Games per sport/discipline.^[3]

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Alpine skiing	3	2	5
Biathlon	7*	5*	12*
Cross-country skiing	7*	5*	12*
Curling	1	1	2
Ice hockey	17	1	18
Snowboarding	6	1	7
Total	34	10	44

Para alpine skiing

Athlete	Class	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Total
Athlete	Class	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Gakuta Koike	LW6/8–1	Men's downhill, standing	N/a	1:23.13	15
		Men's super-G, standing	N/a	1:17.76	16
		Men's giant slalom, standing
		Men's slalom, standing
		Men's super combined, standing	1:21.95	12	48.95	9	2:10.90	10
Taiki Morii	LW11	Men's downhill, sitting	N/a	DNF
		Men's super-G, sitting	N/a	1:18.34	11
		Men's giant slalom, sitting
		Men's slalom, sitting
		Men's super combined, sitting	1:17.94	7	43.64	3	2:01.58	5
Takeshi Suzuki	LW12–2	Men's downhill, sitting	N/a	1:21.27	6
		Men's super-G, sitting	N/a	1:15.45	7
		Men's giant slalom, sitting
		Men's slalom, sitting
		Men's super combined, sitting	1:18.27	8	44.20	9	2:02.47	6
Ammi Hondo	LW6/8–2	Women's downhill, standing	N/a	DNF
		Women's super-G, standing	N/a	1:16.40	8
		Women's giant slalom, standing	1:19.03	12	1:22.32	11	2:41.35	10
		Women's slalom, standing
		Super combined, sitting	1:24.62	10	50.42	9	2:15.04	9
Momoka Muraoka	LW10–2	Women's super-G, sitting	N/a	1:24.14
		Women's giant slalom, sitting	1:15.66	2	1:16.26	2	2:31.92
		Women's slalom, sitting
		Women's super combined, sitting	1:29.44	4	53.22	5	2:22.66	5

Para biathlon

Athlete	Class	Event	Qualification			Final
Athlete	Class	Event	Missed shots	Time	Rank	Missed shots	Time	Rank
Ryohei Ariyasu Guide: Yuhei Fujita	NS3	Men's individual, visually impaired	N/a	3 (1+0+1+1)	42:11.5	11
Ryohei Ariyasu Guide: Yuhei Fujita	NS3	Men's sprint, visually impaired	N/a	1 (1+0)	22:47.7	15
Takaharu Minamoto	LW12	Men's individual, sitting	N/a	5 (3+1+0+1)	43:59.5	19
		Men's sprint, sitting	N/a	6 (5+1)	25:27.3	24
		Men's sprint pursuit, sitting
Keiichi Sato	LW8	Men's individual, standing	N/a	10 (2+3+4+1)	44:28.2	18
		Men's sprint, standing	N/a	4 (2+2)	21:55.3	18
		Men's sprint pursuit, standing
Yurika Abe	LW6	Women's sprint, standing	N/a	7 (4+3)	26:40.1	11
Yurika Abe	LW6	Women's sprint pursuit, standing

Para cross-country skiing

Men

Athlete	Class	Event	Qualification		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Class	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Ryohei Ariyasu Guide: Yuhei Fujita	NS3	Sprint classical, visually impaired
		10 km classical, visually impaired	N/a
		20 km freestyle, visually impaired	N/a
Keigo Iwamoto	LW3	Sprint classical, standing
		10 km classical, standing	N/a
		20 km freestyle, standing	N/a
Taiki Kawayoke	LW5/7	Sprint classical, standing
		10 km classical, standing	N/a
		20 km freestyle, standing	N/a
Takaharu Minamoto	LW12	Sprint, sitting
		10 km, sitting	N/a
		20 km, sitting	N/a
Hiroaki Mori	LW12	Sprint, sitting
Hiroaki Mori	LW12	10 km, sitting	N/a
Yoshihiro Nitta	LW8	Sprint classical, standing
		10 km classical, standing	N/a
		20 km freestyle, standing	N/a
Keiichi Sato	LW8	Sprint classical, standing
		10 km classical, standing	N/a
		20 km freestyle, standing	N/a

Women

Athlete	Class	Event	Qualification		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Class	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Yurika Abe	LW6	Sprint classical, standing
Yurika Abe	LW6	10 km classical, standing	N/a
Momoko Dekijima	LW6	10 km classical, standing	N/a
Momoko Dekijima	LW6	20 km freestyle, standing	N/a
Mika Iwamoto	LW8	Sprint classical, standing
		10 km classical, standing	N/a
		20 km freestyle, standing	N/a
Kotoha Matsudo Guide: Yuji Shimada	NS3	Sprint classical, visually impaired
		10 km classical, visually impaired	N/a
		20 km freestyle, visually impaired	N/a
Nana Sato	LW10.5	Sprint, sitting
Nana Sato	LW10.5	10 km, sitting	N/a

Relay

Athletes	Event	Time	Rank
	4 × 2.5km mixed relay
	4 × 2.5km open relay

Para ice hockey

Summary

Key:

OT – Overtime
GWS – Match decided by penalty-shootout

Team	Event	Group stage				Semifinal / Cl.	Final / BM / Pl.
Team	Event	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Japan	Mixed tournament	Czech Republic L 2–3	Canada L 0–14	Slovakia L 1–5	4	Italy L 0–5	Slovakia L 0–1	8

Roster

Head coach: Kojin Nakakita

Akari Fukunishi
Wataru Horie
Yudai Ishikawa
Itsuki Ito
Mikio Kaneko
Yusei Kawahara
Masaharu Kumagai
Masahiro Matsushita
Eiji Misawa
Amu Morisaki
Shunsuke Nakamura
Norihiko Nasu
Kazuyoshi Niitsu
Manabu Okabe
Yoshihiro Shioya
Satoru Sudo
Shosei Ukai
Mamoru Yoshikawa

Group play

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Canada	3	3	0	26	1	+25	9	Semifinals
2	Czechia	3	2	1	12	7	+5	6	Semifinals
3	Slovakia	3	1	2	6	17	−11	3	5–8th place semifinals
4	Japan	3	0	3	3	22	−19	0	5–8th place semifinals

Source: Milano Cortina 2026

7 March 2026
10:05

Czechia

3–2
(2–1, 1–1, 0–0)

Japan

PalaItalia, Milan
Attendance: 2,083

Game reference

Patrik Sedláček

Goalies

Wataru Horie

Referee:
Bobby Esposito
Linesmen:
Dylan Dauphinee
Tibor Fazekas

	0–1	06:14 – Niitsu (Ukai, Ito)
Zelinka (Hábl) – 08:54	1–1
Geier (Zelinka, Veselý) – 11:04	2–1
	2–2	20:09 – Ito (Matsushita)
Kapko (Geier) (PP) – 23:37	3–2

8 min

Penalties

10 min

30

Shots

4

9 March 2026
20:35

Japan

0–14
(0–6, 0–3, 0–5)

Canada

PalaItalia, Milan
Attendance: 3,040

Game reference

Wataru Horie

Goalies

Adam Kingsmill

Referee:
Jan Vaněk
Linesmen:
Tibor Fazekas
Brendan Lewis

	0–1	00:39 – McGregor (Jacobs-Webb, Halbert)
	0–2	03:45 – McGregor (Jacobs-Webb, Lavin)
	0–3	07:25 – Cozzolino (Armstrong)
	0–4	11:46 – Cozzolino (Boily)
	0–5	12:21 – Halbert (Jacobs-Webb, McGregor)
	0–6	13:53 – Dixon (Hickey, McGregor) (PP)
	0–7	23:44 – Boily (Halbert, Armstrong) (PP)
	0–8	24:30 – Halbert (Lelièvre)
	0–9	29:53 – Cozzolino (Hickey)
	0–10	35:44 – Dunn (Boily, Cozzolino)
	0–11	37:12 – Hickey (McGregor, Halbert)
	0–12	39:44 – Halbert (Jacobs-Webb)
	0–13	40:57 – Dunn (Boily, Armstrong)
	0–14	42:45 – Halbert (Lelièvre)

12 min

Penalties

2 min

2

Shots

56

10 March 2026
20:35

Slovakia

5–1
(0–1, 2–0, 3–0)

Japan

PalaItalia, Milan
Attendance: 2,223

Game reference

Eduard Lepáček

Goalies

Wataru Horie

Referee:
Matthew Fergenbaum
Linesmen:
Tibor Fazekas
Lari Niittylä

	0–1	05:21 – Ito (Niitsu, Ukai)
Joppa (Ligda) – 24:04	1–1
Korman (Joppa, Ferenčík) – 29:19	2–1
Joppa (Korman) – 40:45	3–1
Hlinka (Joppa, Korman) – 41:19	4–1
Večerek (Turic) – 44:41	5–1

2 min

Penalties

0 min

29

Shots

10

5–8th place semifinal

12 March 2026
19:05

Italy

5–0
(1–0, 3–0, 1–0)

Japan

PalaItalia, Milan
Attendance: 3,634

Game reference

Santino Stillitano

Goalies

Wataru Horie

Referee:
Kevin Webinger
Linesmen:
Pavel Blažek
Lari Niittylä

Landeros (Larch, Rosa) (PP) – 06:32	1–0
Landeros (Macri, Larch) – 19:37	2–0
Radice (Rosa) – 26:28	3–0
Kalegaris (Depaoli) – 28:01	4–0
Landeros (Torella) – 44:33	5–0

6 min

Penalties

10 min

29

Shots

13

Seventh place game

14 March 2026
12:05

Slovakia

1–0
(0–0, 0–0, 1–0)

Japan

PalaItalia, Milan
Attendance: 2,916

Game reference

Eduard Lepáček

Goalies

Wataru Horie

Referee:
Bobby Esposito
Linesmen:
Pavel Blažek
Lari Niittylä

Joppa – 43:29

1–0

6 min

Penalties

6 min

19

Shots

8

Para snowboard

Banked slalom
Men

Athlete	Event	Run 1	Run 2	Best	Rank
Takahito Ichikawa	Men's banked slalom, SB-LL2
Junta Kosuda	Men's banked slalom, SB-LL1
Daichi Oguri	Men's banked slalom, SB-LL1
Masataka Oiwane	Men's banked slalom, SB-UL
Keiji Okamoto	Men's banked slalom, SB-LL2
Fubuki Ushiroda	Men's banked slalom, SB-LL2

Women

Athlete	Event	Run 1	Run 2	Best	Rank
Eri Sakashita	Women's banked slalom, SB-LL2

Snowboard cross

Men

Athlete	Event	Seeding		Pre-heats	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Position	Position	Position	Position	Rank
Takahito Ichikawa	Men's snowboard cross, SB-LL2	51.71	5	N/a	4	Did not advance
Junta Kosuda	Men's snowboard cross, SB-LL1	53.36	3	N/a	1 Q	1 Q	RAL	4
Daichi Oguri	Men's snowboard cross, SB-LL1	53.85	6	N/a	2 Q	3 SF	3	7
Masataka Oiwane	Men's snowboard cross, SB-UL	53.51	9	Bye	4	Did not advance
Keiji Okamoto	Men's snowboard cross, SB-LL2	53.26	11	N/a	3	Did not advance
Fubuki Ushiroda	Men's snowboard cross, SB-LL2	56.24	15	N/a	4	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Seeding		Pre-heats	Semifinal	Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Position	Position	Position	Rank
Eri Sakashita	Women's snowboard cross, SB-LL2	1:01.48	7	1 Q	DSQ SF	4	8

Wheelchair curling

Summary

Team	Event	Group stage								Semifinal	Final / BM
Team	Event	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Aki Ogawa Yoji Nakajima	Mixed doubles	CHN L 3–10	USA W 7–5	KOR L 0–9	ITA W 6–5	GBR L 2–11	EST W 8–3	LAT L 4–10	6	Did not advance

Mixed doubles

Final Round Robin Standings
Team	Athletes	Pld	W	L	W–L	PF	PA	EW	EL	SE	S%	DSC	Qualification
China	Wang Meng / Yang Jinqiao	7	6	1	–	66	32	32	21	14	64.9%	106.033	Playoffs
United States	Laura Dwyer / Stephen Emt	7	4	3	1–1	43	43	25	27	9	53.4%	89.717
South Korea	Baek Hye-jin / Lee Yong-suk	7	4	3	1–1	58	26	30	19	17	59.9%	142.058
Latvia	Poļina Rožkova / Agris Lasmans	7	4	3	1–1	46	45	28	25	12	48.5%	150.675
Great Britain	Jo Butterfield / Jason Kean	7	3	4	1–0	47	56	25	29	8	51.5%	95.075
Japan	Aki Ogawa / Yoji Nakajima	7	3	4	0–1	30	53	19	30	8	49.0%	88.067
Estonia	Katlin Riidebach / Ain Villau	7	2	5	1–0	31	58	22	28	9	47.6%	98.233
Italy	Orietta Bertò / Paolo Ioriatti	7	2	5	0–1	43	51	28	30	11	55.6%	73.700

Source: Official website

Round robin

Draw 1
Wednesday, March 4, 19:05

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
Japan (Ogawa / Nakajima) 🔨	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	X	3
China (Wang / Yang)	0	0	4	0	2	3	1	X	10

Draw 2
Thursday, March 5, 10:05

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
Japan (Ogawa / Nakajima) 🔨	1	0	2	1	2	0	1	X	7
United States (Dwyer / Emt)	0	1	0	0	0	4	0	X	5

Draw 3
Thursday, March 5, 19:05

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
South Korea (Baek / Lee)	1	1	2	2	2	1	X	X	9
Japan (Ogawa / Nakajima) 🔨	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	X	0

Draw 4
Friday, March 6, 9:05

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
Japan (Ogawa / Nakajima) 🔨	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	6
Italy (Bertò / Ioriatti)	0	0	0	1	1	1	2	0	5

Draw 5
Saturday, March 7, 14:35

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
Japan (Ogawa / Nakajima)	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	X	2
Great Britain (Butterfield / Kean) 🔨	2	2	1	1	2	0	3	X	11

Draw 6
Sunday, March 8, 14:35

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
Estonia (Riidebach / Villau) 🔨	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	X	3
Japan (Ogawa / Nakajima)	0	0	0	3	1	1	3	X	8

Draw 7
Monday, March 9, 14:35

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
Latvia (Rožkova / Lasmans)	2	1	2	0	4	0	1	X	10
Japan (Ogawa / Nakajima) 🔨	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	X	4

References

^ "名簿・選手名鑑" [Rosters and Players] (in Japanese). Japan Paralympic Committee. 6 January 2026. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
^ "Japan heads to Winter Games with biggest team in decades". Kyodo News. 14 January 2026. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
^ "Qualification Regulations". Paralympic.org. Retrieved 4 June 2025.

[1] "名簿・選手名鑑" [Rosters and Players] (in Japanese). Japan Paralympic Committee. 6 January 2026. Retrieved 7 March 2026.

[2] "Japan heads to Winter Games with biggest team in decades". Kyodo News. 14 January 2026. Retrieved 7 March 2026.

[qualification_criteria_paralympic_org-3] "Qualification Regulations". Paralympic.org. Retrieved 4 June 2025.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Nations at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Americas	Argentina Brazil Canada Chile El Salvador Haiti Mexico Puerto Rico United States
Asia	China Japan Kazakhstan Mongolia South Korea Uzbekistan
Europe	Andorra Armenia Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Great Britain Greece Iceland Israel Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine
Oceania	Australia New Zealand
Withdrawn	Iran

Medallists

Competitors

Para alpine skiing

Para biathlon

Para cross-country skiing

Para ice hockey

Para snowboard

Wheelchair curling

Mixed doubles

See also

References