Overview
- Organizers listed no National Paralympic Committee as formally skipping the Cortina closing ceremony, though several delegations named volunteers as flag-bearers and some teams had already departed.
- Ukraine and multiple European committees had refused to attend the opening ceremony after the IPC allowed limited Russian and Belarusian participation under national flags.
- The Russian flag flew and the anthem played at medal ceremonies for the first time since Sochi 2014 and the 2022 invasion, with at least one podium protest by German athletes reported this week.
- Ukrainian competitors described the experience as painful and shocking, with biathlete Iryna Bui denouncing the display of Russian symbols during the war.
- Russia entered the final day fifth in the medal table with nine medals including five golds, as Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev defended the reinstatement and called German athletes' protest unsportsmanlike.