Six athletes from Russia will compete at the Winter Paralympics under their flag — for the first time since 2014

Six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will compete under the flags of their countries at the upcoming Winter Paralympic Games.

This information was confirmed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to BBC Sport.

In September, the IPC lifted the ban on athletes from the two countries from the Games. However, the four international federations responsible for all six sports at the Winter Paralympics decided to maintain their restrictions.

But 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.

Thus, the Russian Paralympic Committee received a total of six quotas: two in para-alpine skiing (one man and one woman), two in para-skiing (one man and one woman), and two in para-snowboarding (both men). The Belarusian Paralympic Committee received a total of four quotas, all in cross-country skiing (one man and three women).

The UK Culture Minister Lisa Nandy called it "absolutely the wrong decision".

“Allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags while the brutal invasion of Ukraine continues sends a terrible signal. The International Paralympic Committee should urgently reconsider this decision,” Nandy wrote in X.

This will be the first time the Russian flag has flown at the Paralympic Games since Sochi 2014 — first due to the countryʼs state-sponsored doping program and later due to Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympic Games will be held from March 6 to 15.

• Russia and Belarus were suspended from the Paralympic Games after Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A partial ban was introduced in 2023, allowing athletes to compete in neutral status.

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