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 AndorraAndorra Roger Puig Davi Para alpine skiing
2 ArgentinaArgentina Enrique Plantey Para alpine skiing
3 ArmeniaArmenia Garik Melkonyan Para cross-country skiing
4 AustraliaAustralia Georgia Gunew Para alpine skiing [2]
Ben Tudhope Para snowboard
5 AustriaAustria Veronika Aigner Para alpine skiing [3]
Markus Salcher
6 BelgiumBelgio Maximilien Seeger Para alpine skiing
7 BelarusBielorussia Lidziya Loban Para cross-country skiing
8 Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia Erzegovina Ilma Kazazić Para alpine skiing
9 BrazilBrasile Aline Rocha Para cross-country skiing
Cristian Ribera
10 BulgariaBulgaria Stela Yanchovichina Para alpine skiing
11 CanadaCanada Tyler McGregor Para ice hockey [4]
Natalie Wilkie Para cross-country skiing
12 Czech RepublicCechia No flagbearers[a]
13 ChileCile Nicolás Bisquertt Para alpine skiing
14 ChinaRepubblica Popolare Cinese Liu Sitong Para alpine skiing [9]
Ji Lijia Para snowboard
15 South KoreaRepubblica di Corea Kim Yun-ji Para cross-country skiing [10]
Lee Yong-suk Wheelchair curling
16 CroatiaCroazia Lucija Smetiško Para alpine skiing
Dino Sokolović
17 DenmarkDanimarca Adam Nybo Para alpine skiing
18 El SalvadorEl Salvador David Chavez Para cross-country skiing
19 EstoniaEstonia No flagbearers[a]
20 FinlandFinlandia No flagbearers[a]
21 GeorgiaGeorgia Temuri Dadiani Para cross-country skiing
22 GermanyGermania Anna-Lena Forster Para alpine skiing [11]
Jörg Wedde Para ice hockey
23 JapanGiappone Aki Ogawa Wheelchair curling [12]
Junta Kosuda Para snowboard
24 Great BritainGran Bretagna Menna Fitzpatrick Para alpine skiing [13]
Scott Meenagh Para biathlon
25 GreeceGrecia Eva Nikou Para alpine skiing
Konstantinos Petrakis Para snowboard
26 HaitiHaiti Ralf Étienne Para alpine skiing
27 IcelandIslanda Arna Albertsdóttir Para cross-country skiing
28 IsraelIsraele Sheina Vaspi Para alpine skiing
29 KazakhstanKazakistan Nurlan Alimov Para cross-country skiing
30 LatviaLetonia No flagbearers[a]
31 LiechtensteinLiechtenstein Sarah Hundert Para alpine skiing
32 LithuaniaLituania No flagbearers[a]
33 North MacedoniaMacedonia del Nord Zoran Jovanovski Para alpine skiing
34 MexicoMessico Arly Velásquez Para alpine skiing
35 MongoliaMongolia Tsegmidiin Dashdorj Para cross-country skiing
36 MontenegroMontenegro Andrej Šibalić Para snowboard
37 NorwayNorvegia Vilde Nilsen Para cross-country skiing
Jesper Pedersen Para alpine skiing
38 New ZealandNuova Zelanda Adam Hall Para alpine skiing [14]
39 NetherlandsPaesi Bassi Claire Petit Para alpine skiing
Jeroen Kampschreur
40 PolandPolonia No flagbearers[a]
41 Puerto RicoPorto Rico Orlando Pérez Para alpine skiing
42 PortugalPortogallo Diogo Carmona Para snowboard
43 RomaniaRomania Mihăiță Papară Para snowboard
44 RussiaFederazione Russa Anastasiia Bagiian Para cross-country skiing
Alexey Bugaev Para alpine skiing
45 SerbiaSerbia Luka Bilčar Para alpine skiing
46 SlovakiaSlovacchia Miroslav Haraus Para alpine skiing
47 SloveniaSlovenia Tabea Dolžan Para cross-country skiing
48 SpainSpagna Audrey Pascual Para alpine skiing [15]
49 SwedenSvezia Ebba Årsjö Para alpine skiing
Zebastian Modin Para cross-country skiing
50 SwitzerlandSvizzera Theo Gmür Para alpine skiing
51 UkraineUcraina No flagbearers[a]
52 UzbekistanUzbekistan Yulduz Makhmudova Para alpine skiing
Firdavs Khudoyatov
53 United StatesStati Uniti d'America Laurie Stephens Para alpine skiing [16]
Josh Paul Para ice hockey
54 FranceFrancia Cécile Hernandez Para snowboard [17]
Jordan Broisin Para alpine skiing
55 ItalyItalia Chiara Mazzel Para alpine skiing [18]
René De Silvestro

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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. 1 2 "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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