The first medals of the Games will be awarded in Cortina with the women’s and men’s Para-Alpine skiing downhill events across all three categories – visually impaired, standing and sitting – at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre.
In the men’s visually impaired competition (09:50), Neil Simpson and his brother and guide Andrew will be hoping to make a solid start to their busy programme in what is probably not their strongest event, though they have had a couple of World Cup podium finishes this season.
Fred Warburton and James Hannan go in the same event at their first Paralympics.
Warburton is a former decathlete who was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition six years ago and only made his first race start in February 2025.
The women’s visually impaired race starts the programme at 08:30. This is not Menna Fitzpatrick and guide Katie Guest’s best event, though Fitzpatrick won a world title back in 2019.
Fitzpatrick, who is Britain’s most decorated Winter Paralympian with six medals, has recovered from a broken leg and knee injury over the past 18 months to compete in Italy while Guest will be making her Games debut after missing Beijing following a positive Covid test.
Simpson, Warburton, Fitzpatrick and all of their rivals in the VI categories will make their way down the course following a guide who communicates instructions via radio.
Canada’s Mollie Jepsen will defend her women’s standing title, but it is the participation of one of her main rivals – Varvara Voronchikhina – that has led to a lot of discussion.
The 23-year-old is one of the six Russians who will compete under their nation’s flags after the International Paralympic Committee lifted its ban on athletes from the two countries competing.
The Para-snowboard programme kicks off from 10:00 with snowboard cross qualifying to decide rankings before Sunday’s head-to-head elimination rounds.
Athletes race down a specially built course with features like banks, rollers and jumps. Each athlete has two runs with the best deciding their final ranking.
Scotland’s Davy Zyw, who is thought to be the first snowsport athlete with motor neurone disease (MND) – a degenerative neurological condition – to ever compete at the Games, will compete in the men’s UL (upper limb) event from 10:21.
Also in the event is James Barnes-Miller, who is appearing at his third Games, while Ollie Hill goes in the men’s LL2 (lower limb) from 11:03.
On day one of the Para-biathlon events, Scott Meenagh goes in what is probably his strongest event – the seated sprint over 7.5km (09:35) – with high hopes of a top-five finish.
At the wheelchair curling, the mixed doubles continues with GB facing world champions Japan (13:35), and it’s also the opening day of the mixed team event.
GB’s Hugh Nibloe, Karen Aspey, Austin McKenzie, Graeme Stewart and Stewart Pimblett start against Slovakia (08:35) who just missed out on a medal at the last Worlds, before taking on the USA (17:35).
Elsewhere, the Para-ice hockey gets under way with the big two – USA and Canada – up against Italy (16:05) and Slovakia (19:35).
Para-biathlon got a revamp after Beijing 2022, so athletes now compete over sprint pursuit, sprint (7.5km) and individual (12.5km) distances rather than 6km, 10km and 12.5km from four years ago.
Ukraine are the sport’s most successful Paralympic nation with 23 gold, 28 silver and 28 bronze medals, including three podium clean sweeps four years ago.
But the women’s seated event (09:00) will feature a meeting of two American Paralympic legends – Oksana Masters and Kendall Gretsch.
The pair are already assured of their places in Paralympic history as part of a select group of athletes with Summer and Winter golds to their name – Masters in Para-cycling, Para-biathlon and Para-cross-country skiing and Gretsch in Para-triathlon, Para-biathlon and Para-cross-country skiing.
They have been involved in some close battles on the snow over recent years and will be aiming to do it all again in Italy in the biathlon and cross-country events.
Delson will have to contend with 51-year-old Beijing gold medallist Cecile Hernandez of France, plus US team-mate and 2018 champion Brenna Huckaby and a couple of strong Chinese athletes.
In the men’s UL, James Barnes-Miller will be hoping to figure having had a couple of World Cup podiums this season, but his biggest challenge will probably come from China, who will be hoping to repeat their podium clean sweep of four years ago, led by defending champion Ji Lijia.
His GB team-mate Davy Zyw, who is thought to be the first snowsport athlete with motor neurone disease (MND) to ever compete at the Games, will also be in action in the same division.
Ollie Hill qualified for the knockout rounds four years ago in the LL2 division and will be hoping to impress again in the weaker of his two events.
Canada’s defending champion Tyler Turner tops the men’s LL1 World Cup rankings and will be a leading challenger along with American pair Noah Elliott and Mike Schultz – the silver medallist from Beijing.
There’s more Para-biathlon action with Scott Meenagh hoping to push for a top-eight finish in the men’s individual sitting (09:30) – in which competitors will race over 12.5km with four visits to the shooting range.
At the wheelchair curling, it is the penultimate round-robin match in the mixed doubles as GB take on China (13:35) while the mixed team have a huge test against 2022 bronze medallists Canada (08:35), who also won bronze at the last Worlds.
It is a big day for Scottish skier Neil Simpson, who defends his men’s Super-G visually impaired title at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre from 09:50.
Simpson and his brother and guide Andrew created history four years ago when they were victorious, becoming the first British men to win a Winter Games skiing gold medal.
Simpson teamed up with his other guide Rob Poth to win the Super-G at the 2023 World Championships, but the event was not contested at last year’s Worlds because of bad weather.
Neil has had a couple of World Cup podiums this season – one each with his brother and Poth. The big danger will come from Austrian Johannes Aigner while Italian hopes are led by Giacomo Bertagnolli.
Bertagnolli and Aigner won silver and bronze in Beijing and are second and first respectively in the World Cup rankings.
Games debutants Fred Warburton and James Hannan also go in the same race for the British team.
Briton Menna Fitzpatrick claimed silver in Beijing and bronze in Pyeongchang but with questions over her fitness, Austrian pair Veronika Aigner – the older sister of Johannes – and Elina Stary look like being the ones to beat in the women’s VI event from 08:30.
Norway’s Jesper Pedersen defends his men’s sitting crown – one of four golds he claimed in Beijing – but watch for Dutch star Jeroen Krampschreur and Canada’s Kurt Oatway.
And Japan’s Momoka Muraoka will need to see off the likes of Germany’s Anna-Lena Forster, Audrey Pascual Seco of Spain and Dutch 47-year-old Barbara van Bergen to retain her title in the women’s seated event.
At the wheelchair curling, the GB mixed doubles team bring their round-robin campaign to a close against hosts Italy (13:35), while the mixed team have a double-header against Korea (08:35) and Sweden (17:35).
In the Para-ice hockey, the US continue against Germany (16:05) while their big rivals Canada take on Japan (19:35).
There will be a new winner in the men’s visually impaired category (11:55) following the retirement of Canadian great Brian McKeever, who dominated the division by winning 16 Paralympic gold medals after making his debut in 2002.
American Jake Adicoff, who took two silvers behind McKeever in Beijing, will be hoping to make it to the top of the podium.
Adicoff, who made his Paralympic debut in Sochi as a teenager, suffered sight loss after contracting chicken pox in the womb.
He missed out on a medal in this event in Beijing but is the world champion over this distance and has World Cup wins to his name in Gernany and Poland this season.
Czech teenager Simona Bubenickova will be a strong contender in the women’s visually impaired event (11:25) along with Germany’s defending champion Linn Kazmaier, while it could be another battle between US pair Kendall Gretsch and Oksana Masters in the women’s sitting race (08:45).
The most successful Winter Paralympian of all time is Norway’s Ragnhild Myklebust, who won 22 gold medals across her career in cross-country skiing, biathlon and ice sledge speed skating, which is no longer part of the Games programme.
Born in 1943, she was diagnosed with polio aged two. As a child she was encouraged to take part in sport and shone at table tennis, but found her calling in winter sports and cross-country skiing in particular.
She made her Winter Paralympic debut in Innsbruck in 1988, winning five golds in cross-country and ice sledge speed skating.
She went on to enjoy more success in Albertville (1992), Lillehammer (1994), Nagano (1998) and Salt Lake City (2002), where she finished her glittering career with a further five gold medals to bring her overall tally to 27 – 22 golds, three silver and two bronze
The female skiers take centre stage in Cortina with two giant slalom runs starting at 08:00, with the visually impaired division followed by the standing and seated skiers. Run two follows in the same order from 11:00.
Britain’s Menna Fitzpatrick won silver in the event in Pyeongchang but finished out of the medals in Beijing, where Veronika Aigner won gold.
Aigner has won three of the four World Cup giant slalom races staged this season, with compatriot Elina Stary taking the other.
Britain’s Hester Poole will be making her Paralympic debut aged 18 with guide Ali Hall.
But she will not be the youngest competitor in the field with American teenager Meg Gustafson, who is guided by her older brother Spencer, only 16.
Four years ago, Ebba Aarsjoe of Sweden was second after the first giant slalom run in the standing division on her Games debut but failed to finish her second run, leaving her bitterly disappointed.
Though she did win gold in both the slalom and super combined and bronze in the downhill, she will be keen to make up for missing out in this event four years ago.
This season she is leading the giant slalom World Cup standings thanks to a pair of wins in St Moritz, but France’s Aurelie Richard and veteran German Andrea Rothfuss will be among those to push her.
Aarsjoe comes from a sporting family – her uncle Johannes twice finished second in Europe’s Strongest Man and is a nine-time national champion.
Para-ice hockey has been part of the Paralympic programme since 1994, but was originally developed in Sweden in the 1960s.
Previously known as sledge hockey, each team has six players on the ice (including the goalie) at a time.
The players use sledges with two blades and two sticks to push themselves and handle the puck, and games consist of three 15-minute periods.
Great Britain competed when the sport made its Games debut – finishing fourth – but their last appearance was in 2006, when a team featuring Richard Whitehead, who later went on to win Paralympic athletics gold in London and Rio, finished seventh.
Teams are mixed and there are two female athletes at this year’s Games – Japan’s Akari Funkunishi and Michaela Hozakova of Slovakia – with work ongoing to grow that number in the hope of having a female competition at a future Winter Games.
Like the women’s giant slalom, the men’s event is over two runs (from 08:00 and 11:30) with the visually impaired athletes starting each run, followed by standing and seated athletes.
Austria’s Johannes Aigner will be out to retain his title in the visually impaired event but Italian Giacomo Bertagnolli is the world champion and aiming to go one better than Beijing, where he won silver. Canada’s Kalle Ericsson could also figure.
Neil Simpson will be hoping to improve on his fifth place from Beijing alongside guide Rob Poth, Fred Warburton goes with guide James Hannan, and it will be an exciting day for 19-year-old Sam Cozens and his guide Adam Hall, who make their first appearance at the Paralympics in the event.
France’s Arthur Bauchet will be aiming to upgrade his bronze from four years ago in the standing event but his compatriot Jules Segers and Robin Cuche of Switzerland will be among the main challengers.
There will be a Games debut in that race for Scottish 16-year-old Dom Allen – the youngest member of the ParalympicsGB team in Italy.
In the wheelchair curling, Great Britain hope to make it to the mixed team semi-finals at 09:05.
The last time a British team made it to the last four was in 2014, when the team of Aileen Neilson, Gregor Ewan, Bob McPherson, Jim Gault and Angie Malone lost to Russia but recovered superbly to beat China for bronze.
It is a quick turnaround for the losers, with the bronze-medal match at 17:35.
Briton Scott Meenagh completes his Para-biathlon campaign in the men’s sprint pursuit seated event (qualifying 09:15; final 11:45) in which missed shots mean a 20-second time penalty rather than a penalty loop.
Meenagh was seventh at last year’s World Championships and has had three top-eight finishes over the distance in this year’s World Cup races.
In the visually impaired races, Germany’s Leonie Walter and Oleksandr Kazik of Ukraine will be aiming to add the Paralympic title to their 2025 world crowns.
And in the standing division, Canada will be aiming for a double through Natalie Wilkie and five-time Paralympian Mark Arendz, with both landing World Cup wins this season.
In Milan, the Para-ice hockey semi-finals take place at 13:35 and 18:05 and it would be a massive shock if the sport’s big two – the US and Canada – did not figure.
The Para-snowboarders are back in action for their second event – the banked slalom.
Athletes race against the clock down a winding course with tight turns. Each athlete has two runs and the best decides their final ranking.
Nina Sparks will create history as Britain’s first female Paralympic snowboarder in the women’s LL2 event, which starts the day with run one from 09:00 and run two from 10:50.
Ollie Hill won Britain’s first Paralympic medal in the sport with bronze in this event four years ago, and he will go again in the men’s LL2 (Lower Limb) event from 10:06 and 11:56.
Compatriot James Barnes-Miller, who was ninth in Beijing, will aim to challenge for a medal in the men’s UL (upper limb) event but Chinese riders will again be the ones to watch (09:22 and 11:12).
Briton Matt Hamilton makes his Games debut in the same division while Davy Zyw, who is thought to be the first snowsport athlete with motor neurone disease (MND) to compete at the Games, will be in action in his second event.
The women’s Para-Alpine skiing programme comes to an end with the slalom across the three divisions – visually impaired, standing and seated – with run one starting at 08:00 and run two from 12:00.
Briton Menna Fitzpatrick narrowly missed out on a medal in this event in Beijing, finishing fourth as Austria’s Veronika Aigner beat older sister Barbara.
Aigner will be favourite to retain her crown but will need to get the better of the likes of compatriot Elina Stary, who leads the World Cup standings, Italy’s Chiara Mazzel, and Alexandra Rexova of Slovakia.
Briton Hester Poole goes in the second of her two events with guide Ali Hall, with the teenager hoping to gain more experience of top-level competition.
In the seated division, Germany’s Anna-Lena Forster will hope to power her way to a third title in a row in the event but faces two tough Chinese rivals in Wenjing Zhang – the 2022 silver medallist – and Sitong Liu.
The wheelchair curling tournament comes to its climax with the mixed team final at 14:05.
Four years ago, China retained their title when they beat Sweden 8-3 on home soil. Can they make it three in a row?
Para-skier Neil Simpson and guide Rob Poth will be aiming to finish their Games on a high in the men’s visually impaired slalom on the final day of the Paralympic programme.
Run one starts from 08:00 with visually impaired skiers followed by standing and seated, with run two to come at 11:00 in the same order.
Simpson was ninth in this event in Beijing but he and Poth lie fourth in the World Cup standings.
Giacomo Bertagnolli of Italy is defending champion and would like nothing better than to end his home Games with a medal, but Johannes Aigner of Austria is always a danger. France’s Hyacinthe Deleplace and Poland’s Michal Golas have shown good form in World Cup races this season.
Simpson and Poth will be joined on the startline by fellow Britons Sam Cozens and Adam Hall, and Fred Warburton and James Hannan, with Cozens and Warburton aiming to learn more lessons at their debut Games.
It will also be a learning experience for Dom Allen in the standing division, where France’s Arthur Bauchet will be aiming to retain his title and Russia’s Aleksei Bugaev could be among the big dangers. Norway’s Jesper Pederson will hope for back-to-back wins in the seated event.
The Para-cross-country skiing programme comes to an end with a test for both male and female athletes over 20km.
This is the first time the women have raced over the distance at a Paralympics and it will be a brutal examination for everyone at the end of a busy schedule.
Scott Meenagh goes for GB in the seated division but China’s defending champion Peng Zheng and world championship silver medallist Pavlo Bal of Ukraine could be among the frontrunners.
American Jake Adicoff won silver over the distance in Beijing in the men’s visually impaired event and is the current world champion, with Zebastian Modin of Sweden possibly his main rival.
Norway’s Vilde Nilsen and Canada’s Natalie Wilkie could be the ones to fight it out in the women’s standing event having finished one-two at the World Championships.
