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The 50th-anniversary edition of the Paralympic Winter Games officially began today with the opening ceremony at ancient Verona Arena, which hosted the Olympic closing ceremony a couple of weeks ago. Ukraine and six other European countries boycotted the festivities in protest of the International Paralympic Committee’s decision to reinstate Russia and Belarus.
Canada was not part of the boycott, but the Canadian Paralympic Committee decided to not send any athletes to the ceremony. The CPC, which voted against lifting the ban on Russia and Belarus, called it a “performance-based” decision based on Verona being at least two hours away from where athletes are staying and competing.
Canada’s flag-bearers were Natalie Wilkie, a three-time Paralympic gold medallist in nordic skiing, and Tyler McGregor, the captain of the Para hockey team. They did the honours remotely as they prepare to compete tomorrow.
Canadian Paralympians watching from Cortina d’Ampezzo, Milan and Tesero, Italy, cheered their flag’s arrival at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games opening ceremony in Verona, Italy.
In another case of an ongoing war impacting these Games, the IPC announced today that Iran’s lone athlete, a cross-country skier, will not compete because it was not safe for him to travel to Italy.
A total of 22 medal events will take place on Saturday and Sunday. Here are some of the Canadians to watch:
*The aforementioned Natalie Wilkie competes in a pair of biathlon events in the women’s standing category: the 7.5-kilometre sprint on Saturday at 6 a.m. ET and the 12.5km race on Sunday at 7:10 a.m. ET. The seven-time Paralympic medallist is the reigning world champion in both events.
*Twelve-time Paralympic medallist Mark Arendz is the reigning world champ in those same events on the men’s side. His races take place immediately after Wilkie’s.
*Six-time Paralympic medallist Collin Cameron will also race the 7.5K and the 12.K in the men’s sitting category. Those races are Saturday at 4:35 a.m. ET and Sunday at 5:30 a.m. ET, respectively. Cameron won three bronze medals at both the 2018 and 2022 Games.
*Alpine skier Mollie Jepsen will try to repeat as Paralympic champion in the women’s standing downhill on Saturday. Her race follows the women’s vision-impaired category, which begins at 3:30 a.m. ET. Jepsen also took silver in the giant slalom in 2022, giving her six career Paralympic medals.
*Tyler Turner defends his Paralympic title in the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL1 category, beginning with the seeding run on Saturday. The elimination rounds start Sunday at 6 a.m. ET and culminate with the final at 7:44 a.m. ET.
*Canada’s Para hockey team plays its first game on Saturday at 2:35 p.m. ET against Slovakia. The Canadians took silver at the last two Paralympics, losing to the United States in the final both times. Canada and the U.S. have also met in eight straight world-championship finals, with the Canadians winning in 2013, 2017 and 2024 before the Americans took back the title with a 6-1 victory last year in Buffalo.
*Canada’s mixed wheelchair curling team opens against Italy on Saturday at 12:35 p.m. ET and plays twice on Sunday: vs. Great Britain at 4:35 a.m. ET and vs. Norway at 1:35 p.m. ET. Canada won bronze at the last two Paralympics.
If you missed yesterday’s newsletter, here’s our primer on the Games.
Devin Heroux joins CBC Paralympics digital studio host Allison Lang from Cortina, Italy to set the scene just days ahead of the Winter Paralympics opening ceremony.
How to watch the Paralympics
Along with daily broadcasts on the CBC TV network, which begin Saturday at noon ET, you can stream all of the action from the Milano-Cortina Games live and on demand exclusively on the free CBC Gem app. You can also access Gem on your desktop web browser.
For a full listing of what’s on each day, see the CBC Paralympics streaming and broadcast schedule.
You can also visit CBC’s Milan-Cortina Paralympics website for the latest stories, schedules, in-depth features and on-demand highlights.
Here’s more on all the ways you can follow the Games with CBC.
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