Val di Fiemme towards the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Paralympic Games

On January 29 and 30 the first Test-Event with the IBU Para Biathlon World Cup

The Para Cross-Country World Cup will live up the weekend of January 1 and 2

Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 organizes the Test Event

with the invaluable support of the Nordic Ski Val di Fiemme Organizing Committee

With just over 400 days to go until the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Paralympic Games, the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, in collaboration with the Nordic Ski Val di Fiemme Organizing Committee, is preparing to host two major test events as part of the ‘Road to 2026’ warm-up program. In the coming weeks, the Lago di Tesero Cross-Country and Biathlon Centre will be the core of the IBU Para Biathlon World Cup and the FIS Para Cross-Country World Cup stages.

The closest among the test-event in preparation for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics, will be the IBU Para Biathlon World Cup stage, scheduled for Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 of January. It is the second stage of the World Cup season, that after the start in Vuokatti (Finland, December 12-15), will be in Trentino as a prelude to the World Championship in Pokljuka (Slovenia, February 6-9), which in turn will anticipate the seasonal finals of Torsby (Sweden, March 8-11).

The best biathletes in the Paralympic scene will compete on the tracks of the Lago di Tesero Stadium, alternating moments on the track with sessions at the shooting range. On Wednesday 29 is scheduled the 7,5 km Sprint race with two shooting sessions, while on Thursday 30 it will be the turn of the thrilling format of the Sprint Pursuit, which includes a first qualifying phase in the morning with a Sprint and a second phase in the afternoon with the Pursuit, each with two sessions at the shooting range. In the Para Biathlon competitions, the participants do not carry their rifles on their shoulders, but the weapon remains in position at the shooting range where the athletes then present themselves to complete their competition, albeit with some differences. While athletes in the Sitting category, i.e. those competing on a special sit-ski, position themselves and shoot on their own, athletes in the Standing category are sometimes assisted by a coach or guide who, only after the athlete has correctly positioned the rifle, pulls the trigger. Finally, in the Vision Impaired category, the athletes use rifles equipped with a special system that, by means of an acoustic signal, supports the athlete in taking aim and at the moment of firing.

In the weekend of February 1 and 2, the Tesero’s Stadium tracks will host the FIS Para Cross-Country World Cup: even in the case of cross-country skiing, this will be the second seasonal appointment of the top itinerant event that started in Vuokatti last December. The distinction of athletes according to disability remains valid in Paralympic cross-country skiing, with the Sitting, Standing and Vision Impaired categories that in Val di Fiemme will face the 1 km Sprint on Saturday February 1 and the 10 km Interval Start on Sunday 2, both in classic technique.

The IBU Para Biathlon World Cup (January 29-30) and the FIS Para Cross-Country World Cup (February 1-2) are part of the Test Event calendar for the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation and will be organised by the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee with the precious support of the Event Delivery Entity Nordic Ski Val di Fiemme. Two appointments to test the specific needs of Paralympic athletes, with a special focus on race tracks, shooting ranges, accessibility, but also athletes' parterres, technical rooms and ski-rooms. An opportunity to reconfirm not only the hospitality and welcome of Val di Fiemme, but also to consolidate the positioning of this magnificent land as an international sporting benchmark in the Nordic Paralympic disciplines protagonists of the 2026 Milano Cortina Games.

IBU Para Biathlon World Cup Overall Standings

At the moment these are the leaders of the overall World Cup ranking: in the Sitting category the German Anja Wicker and the Chinese Zixu Liu, in the Standing category the Canadians Natalie Wilkie and Mark Arendz and finally in the Vision Impaired category the German Leonie Maria Walter and the Ukrainian Iaroslav Reshetynskyi. The Italian athletes are Marco Pisani (Sitting) and Cristian Toninelli (Standing) both in 14th place in the overall ranking.

FIS Para Cross-Country World Cup Overall Standings

Leading the Overall World Cup rankings are the German Anja Wicker and the Brazilian Cristian Westemaier Ribera in the Sitting category, the Norwegian Vilde Nilsen and the Canadian Mark Arendz in the Standing category, and the Chinese Yue Wang and the Swedish Zebastian Modin in the Vision Impaired. In the world of Nordic skiing winter disciplines, the cases of athletes capable of performing at a high level in both biathlon and cross-country skiing are not isolated. For the Italian national team, the Italian athletes in the overall standings are Michele Biglione, Giuseppe Spatola and Marco Pisani (Sitting category) and Mattia Dal Pastro (Standing category), while in Val di Fiemme, Michele Biglione, Cristian Toninelli, Giuseppe Spatola and Daniele Stefanoni, as well as the multi-award-winning Giuseppe Romele, are preparing to take to the tracks.

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