Overview
- Events are scheduled for 6–15 March across Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Tesero and Verona, with roughly 655 athletes from about 50 national committees expected.
- Several delegations say they will skip the opening ceremony to protest the IPC decision allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their flags and anthems.
- Middle East airspace closures and widespread flight cancellations have stranded some teams in transit hubs such as Doha, jeopardizing the participation of Iran’s Abolfazl Khatibi and Israel’s Sheina Vaspi.
- The IPC says it is monitoring geopolitical risks in emergency sessions while affirming that public-order and venue security fall to Italian authorities.
- Italian Paralympic leaders frame the event as elite sport and a real-world test of urban accessibility, rejecting “hero” labels for athletes and advocating neutral participation for Russia and Belarus.