Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags at 2026 Paralympics for first time since 2014

Ten athletes from russia and Belarus have been invited to the Winter Paralympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo and will compete under their national flags - the first time since the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi.

This was reported by BBC Sport.

The russian National Paralympic Committee has been granted six quotas: two each in para-alpine skiing (one man and one woman), para-skiing (one man and one woman) and para-snowboarding (two men). Belarus has been awarded four places in cross-country skiing - one for men and three for women.

The invitations were issued under the bipartite commission procedure, which allows individual athletes to participate in competitions at the discretion of the organizers in exceptional cases. Ukraine also received bipartite quotas in three sports.

In September, the IPC lifted the ban on athletes from the two countries from participating in the Games. Following russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, russia and Belarus were banned from the Paralympic Games, and were allowed to compete in neutral status in 2023. At the same time, the four international federations responsible for six Paralympic sports maintained their own restrictions.

In December, russia and Belarus won an appeal against the International Ski and Snowboard Federation at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, allowing their athletes to compete and earn ranking points.

Ukraine's Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi called the decision "disappointing and outrageous" and said in X that "the flags of russia and Belarus have no place at international sporting events." UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy also criticized the decision, calling it "absolutely wrong."

Recall that the president of the Ukrainian Football Association, Andrii Shevchenko, stated that the admission of russian teams to international competitions is impossible as long as the war continues.

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