Although there is no Team SA representation, a total of 564 Para athletes, including more women than ever before, are set to compete at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games which open today.
Over the course of 10 days, 46 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) will participate in 78 medal events across six sports. Courtesy of Sheyne Vaspi and Orlando Perez who will both line-up in Para Alpine Skiing, Israel and Puerto Rico respectively will both make their Paralympic Winter Games debut. Azerbaijan will also make their debut through Mehman Ramazanzade in Para Cross-Country Skiing.
In terms of athlete numbers, the 564 Para athletes set for Beijing 2022 equals the previous best set at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.
Beijing 2022 will however feature a record 138 women Para athletes, an increase on the 133 that took part at PyeongChang 2018.
The 46 competing delegations is three less than the record number set in 2018. There will 78 medal events, 39 for men, 35 for women and four mixed events.
Andrew Parsons, IPC President, said: “It is a fantastic achievement to equal the record number of Para athletes to compete at a Paralympic Winter Games bearing in mind the challenges faced during the last two years. This is testament to the outstanding efforts of National Paralympic Committees and International Federations.
“With International Women’s Day on the horizon I am delighted to see that the number of female Para athletes has grown tremendously, reaching record levels. Much work still needs to be done to achieve gender parity but having increased female participation significantly at the Winter Games in the last 20 years, shows we are heading in the right direction.”
Hosts China, who won their first Paralympic Winter Games gold medal at PyeongChang 2018 in wheelchair curling, boast the largest team at the Games. Haitao Wang, the skip of the 2018 gold medallists, is one of 96 Para athletes named. For the first time in their history, China will compete in all six sports.
The second biggest team is from USA. Amongst the 65 Para athletes are Declan Farmer and Josh Pauls, key members of the Para ice hockey team looking to make history with a fourth successive Paralympic title. Paralympic champions from 2018, Oksana Masters (Para Nordic Skiing) and Brenna Huckaby (Para Snowboard) also return.
Italy, the host nation of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, will be represented by 29 Para athletes across four sports. This includes vision impaired alpine skier Giacomo Bertagnolli, a winner of two gold medals at PyeongChang 2018.
At 66 years-young, Pam Wilson is the eldest Para athlete at Beijing 2022 and will make her Paralympic debut for USA in wheelchair curling. The youngest Para athlete at the Games is Austria’s 15-year-old vision impaired Para alpine skier Elina Stary.