Helsinki, March 1, 2026 – The Europe Today: Finland has announced it will not attend the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics on 6 March in Verona after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) granted wildcard entries to Russian and Belarusian athletes.
The decision was confirmed on Tuesday by the Finnish Paralympic Committee following a request from Ukraine. Estonia, Latvia and Poland will also abstain from participating in the ceremony.
The boycott applies solely to the opening event. Finland will still compete in the Games, with four Finnish athletes set to participate.
Dispute Over Wildcard Allocations
At the centre of the dispute are bipartite invitations — commonly referred to as wildcard places — allocated by the IPC. These invitations allow athletes to enter the Paralympics without qualifying directly through competition results. National paralympic committees submit applications for such places.
The IPC awarded six wildcard places to Russian athletes in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and snowboarding. Four Belarusian athletes received wildcard entries in cross-country skiing.
Without these allocations, athletes from Russia and Belarus would not have been eligible to compete in those events. International federations have maintained their own bans, preventing athletes from the two countries from participating in qualification competitions in cross-country skiing, biathlon, alpine skiing and snowboarding.
The Milan-Cortina Paralympics programme also includes para ice hockey and wheelchair curling.
Participation Under National Flags
In September 2025, the IPC decided that Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete under their national flags at the Paralympics. By contrast, at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games, athletes from the two countries competed under neutral status.
Sari Rautio, chair of the Finnish Paralympic Committee, said the decision to boycott the ceremony followed a request for support from Ukraine and the Ukrainian embassy.
“The least we can do is express our view on the IPC’s decisions concerning Russian athletes by not attending the opening ceremony, as Ukraine has asked us to do,” Rautio said in a statement.
Ukraine will participate in the Games but will also not attend the opening ceremony.
The move underscores continuing divisions within the international sporting community over the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in global competitions.
