The Milan Cortina Winter Paralympics kick off March 6, 2026 with the Opening Ceremony at the Verona Arena, the third-largest Roman amphitheater still in existence.
Built in 30 AD to host gladiator fights, it will set the stage for nine days of medal competition across six sports.
The Closing Ceremony will then take place at the Cortina Curling Stadium.
The U.S. placed fourth at the 2022 Winter Games with 20 medals (including six golds) after topping the total medal standings at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.
Here’s a look at how the U.S. is shaping up in each sport with one year until the Games.
Para Alpine Skiing
Andrew Kurka, the last American to win Para Alpine gold in 2018, finished fourth in the sitting downhill in 2022 while racing through a broken nose, arm and thumb. He then withdrew from the rest of those Beijing Games.
Kurka, an Alaska bed and breakfast owner and pilot, then missed last month’s World Championships due to breaking a few ribs and his sternum in a training crash in Cortina.
“This injury defines me,” he said. “It defines my comeback. It defines my grit. It defines my perseverance. It’s going to determine how tough I am.”
On the women’s side, Audrey Crowley has emerged, taking standing giant slalom bronze in her debut World Championships. Crowley, who learned to ski on a 196-foot Wisconsin hill, turned 18 last Saturday. The U.S. last won a women’s Para Alpine gold medal in 2010.
Para Hockey
The U.S. won the last four Paralympic titles, but last May was defeated by rival Canada in the World Championship final. Before that, the Americans won 41 consecutive games overall dating to October 2021.
The favorite for Milan Cortina will likely be the winner of this May’s World Championship in Buffalo. The U.S. is coming off two wins over Canada last month.
The U.S. boasts an experienced roster led by Declan Farmer, the most prolific scorer in national team history with more than 200 goals across all competitions since he debuted in 2012 at age 14.
Rico Roman, part of gold medal teams in 2014, 2018 and 2022, retired after the Beijing Games.
Para Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing
Biathlon and cross-country skiing, the two sports that make up Paralympic Nordic skiing, produced the most medals for the U.S. in 2022.
Oksana Masters led the way with seven medals at the Beijing Games, including three golds, in the sitting classification. She reached 14 career Winter Paralympic medals, breaking the U.S. record of 13 that had been shared by Alpine skiers Sarah Billmeier and Sarah Will.
Masters then went to the 2024 Paris Summer Games and won two road cycling gold medals, just as she did at the Tokyo Games.
She is now up to 19 Paralympic medals between the Winter and Summer Games, including nine golds.
At Milan Cortina, Masters can become the sixth American to win at least 20 Paralympic medals, according to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. The list currently includes fellow dual Winter and Summer athlete Tatyana McFadden, swimmers Trischa Zorn and Jessica Long, wheelchair racer Bart Dodson and Sharon Myers, who competed in archery, swimming, table tennis, track and field and wheelchair basketball.
Kendall Gretsch won a medal of every color in 2022, joining Masters on the podium each time. Like Masters, she then competed at the Paris Games, taking silver in triathlon.
Gretsch won three golds at last month’s World Para Biathlon Championships, which Masters missed due to a leg infection.
On the men’s side, the U.S. is expected to be led by four-time cross-country skiing medalist Jake Adicoff in the visually impaired classification and Aaron Pike, who competed at the last seven Paralympics (Summer and Winter), in the sitting classification.
Pike, who is engaged to Masters, is a two-time world champion in individual biathlon events and seeks his first Paralympic medal.
Para Snowboarding
The U.S. has won twice as many Para snowboarding medals and gold medals as any other nation since the sport debuted at the 2014 Sochi Games.
Brenna Huckaby is the most decorated snowboarder in Paralympic history with three gold medals and four total medals between snowboard cross and banked slalom events.
The U.S. men’s team could include Noah Elliott and Mike Schultz, already gold medalists in the LL-1 category, and Zach Miller in the LL-2 category. Miller placed 11th and 15th in his Paralympic debut in 2022, then won a medal of every color at the 2023 World Championships.
Wheelchair Curling
Wheelchair curling features the one new medal event for these Games — a mixed doubles competition to join the team event that’s been held since 2006.
In 2022, the U.S. went 5-5 in round-robin play in the team event, missing the four-team playoffs by one spot in a bid for its first Paralympic curling medal.
The U.S. has finished fifth, second and fifth in the three editions of the world championship for mixed doubles, including taking silver in 2023.
The U.S. Paralympic Trials for mixed doubles will be held in conjunction with the Olympic Trials for the men’s and women’s teams in November in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
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