Fifty years ago, a group of athletes with physical disabilities gathered in the Swedish town of Örnsköldsvik for the first Winter Paralympics. There were 16 nations, two sports, and 53 athletes.

The 2026 Games that opened Thursday in Verona have 45 nations, six sports, and 665 athletes. They're the largest Winter Paralympics ever staged. They're also, in several specific ways, unlike any Winter Games that came before them.

The First Paralympic Ceremony at a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The 2026 Games opened at the Arena di Verona, a 1st-century Roman amphitheater that has been standing for two millennia. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the best-preserved ancient structures anywhere in the world. It has hosted opera, concerts, and spectacles for centuries.

No Paralympic ceremony had ever taken place at a UNESCO World Heritage site before Thursday night. The choice was intentional. Italy's investment in the venues for these Games, including roughly €20 million in accessibility upgrades across the Paralympic sites, set a standard for what host cities can commit to when they take on the Games.

The First Dual Flame in 50 Years of Winter Paralympics

The flame lighting at the 2026 Games introduced a format that had never been used before.

Instead of one cauldron in one place lit by one person, Thursday's ceremony had three people light two separate cauldrons across three cities simultaneously. Italian wheelchair fencing champion Bebe Vio carried the flame into Verona. Visually impaired alpine skier Gianmaria Dal Maistro lit in Milan. Paralympian Francesca Porcellato lit in Cortina d'Ampezzo. All three moments happened at once.

The dual cauldron format is the first of its kind in Winter Paralympic history. It recognized that these Games span three distinct venues across northern Italy, and it gave all three a role in the opening.

A Brand-New Event on the Program

Wheelchair curling mixed doubles made its Paralympic debut at these Games.

Wheelchair curling has been part of the Winter Paralympics since 2002, but always as a team format. The mixed doubles event, which pairs one male and one female athlete from the same country, was added to the 2026 program for the first time. It's the first new wheelchair curling format in the sport's Paralympic history, and it opened the competition calendar on March 4, two days before the ceremony.

For Team USA, Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer are the first American pair to compete in the event at a Paralympics. For the sport, mixed doubles adds a new competitive dimension that the Paralympic field hadn't seen before.

The Largest Boycott in Paralympic History

The politics of these Games also set a record, though not a welcome one.

After the IPC announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes would compete under their national flags, a cascade of nations announced they would not march in the opening parade. The boycott story started with Ukraine, Poland, and Estonia. By the time the ceremony ended Thursday, 28 of 55 competing nations had not sent delegations into the parade. That number exceeds every previous ceremony boycott in Paralympic history.

The athletes from boycotting nations are still competing. Ukraine's team, which includes athletes with war-related disabilities, is racing. The boycott draws a line at the ceremony, not at the sport itself.

Record Female Participation

The 2026 Games also set a record for female athlete participation. The share of women competing in these Games is higher than any previous Winter Paralympics, continuing a trajectory the IPC has been tracking across both Summer and Winter cycles.

The expansion of the wheelchair curling mixed doubles event contributed to this, as did growth across para alpine skiing and cross-country skiing rosters.

What Comes Next

The 50th edition of the Winter Paralympics is the biggest, held at the most historically significant venue, with a new event, a record female field, and a political backdrop that no organizing committee could have fully anticipated.

Oksana Masters, Kendall Gretsch, and the rest of the field begin competing March 7. How to follow the Games on Peacock and NBC is covered if you're working out where to find the stream.

March 7 is the first full day of competition.