From Dubai: Australia is competing in one of its largest Winter Paralympics teams ever at Milano Cortina, a significant moment for the country's Paralympic programme. The Games begin on Saturday, 6 March, local time, with the opening ceremony at the Verona Olympic Arena. For Australian viewers, that ceremony starts at 6am AEDT. Competition runs through to 15 March across venues spread through north-east Italy, from Milan to Cortina d'Ampezzo.
What makes these Games noteworthy for Australia is not just the size of the team, but the breadth of sports Australia will contest. For the first time, Australian athletes compete in Para Cross-Country, Para Biathlon, Para Snowboarding, and Para Alpine Skiing. Add Para Ice Hockey and Wheelchair Curling, and you have six distinct disciplines, each with its own technical demands and classifications.
Para Alpine Skiing remains the flagship discipline for Australia at the Winter Paralympics. Athletes reach speeds of 100 kilometres an hour across five events: Downhill, Super-G, Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Super Combined. The sport itself is divided into three categories: standing, sitting, and vision-impaired. Standing skiers with limb loss use outriggers, short poles with skis on the end, for balance. Sitting skiers use sit-skis or mono-skis, bucket seats mounted on skis. Vision-impaired skiers rely on a guide who communicates via a radio or speaker device attached to the athlete's back. Michael Milton, Australia's most decorated Winter Paralympian, exemplifies the calibre of athlete competing in these events.
Para Biathlon combines cross-country skiing endurance with precision shooting. Athletes must ski multiple laps around a course, stopping at each stage to shoot at targets 10 metres away. Miss a target and your time increases. Vision-impaired athletes use an acoustic signal that changes intensity to guide their aim. Para Cross-Country demands exceptional upper-body strength, particularly for sit skiers who propel themselves around snow-covered tracks using bucket seats and their arms. There are twenty medal events across classic and free-style disciplines.
Para Snowboarding is the newest addition to the Winter Paralympics calendar, introduced at Sochi in 2014. Australian boarder Ben Tudhope debuted then and competes again in Milano Cortina. Para Ice Hockey, played on sledges with two blades and two sticks, is contested by athletes with lower-limb impairments. Wheelchair Curling differs from the Olympic sport in one crucial way: athletes do not sweep the ice. Instead, they launch stones from stationary wheelchairs.
For Australian audiences, this is a chance to witness world-class disability sport and understand the engineering and adaptations that make competition possible. The official Olympics website carries the full schedule. Australia's participation reflects the country's serious investment in Paralympic sport and the skill of its athletes across diverse disciplines.