The Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will feature athletes with various impairments competing on equal terms through a rigorous classification system. This process ensures fairness by grouping competitors based on impairment types and severity. The International Ski Federation (FIS) has outlined eligible impairments and sport-specific classes for para alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and snowboarding.
The classification system for the Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 aims to create equitable competition among athletes with impairments. As described by FIS, it levels the playing field so that outcomes depend on training, skill, and strategy rather than the nature or severity of an athlete's impairment.
Athletes undergo an extensive evaluation process. This begins with determining eligibility based on underlying health conditions causing impairments such as Impaired Muscle Power, Leg Length Difference, Ataxia, Athetosis, or Vision Impairment. Impairments like pain, hearing loss, joint stability issues, or intellectual impairments are not eligible. Certified FIS classifiers conduct interviews on medical diagnosis and training history, followed by physical assessments of muscle power, range of movement, and coordination. A sport-specific evaluation then checks against the Minimum Impairment Criteria (MIC), defined by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as the minimum impairment level required for participation in para sport. MIC varies by discipline and impairment presentation.
Once eligible, athletes are assigned sport classes to determine competition categories. In para alpine skiing and para cross-country skiing, competitors fall into standing, sitting, or vision impaired groups. Within each, athletes race together, with results adjusted by factored timing for fairness.
For para alpine skiing standing lower limb classes include LW1 for severe bilateral leg impairments affecting strength and balance, LW2 for significant unilateral leg impairment impacting gait, LW3 for less severe bilateral leg impairments, and LW4 for unilateral leg impairments affecting strength and stability. Upper limb classes cover LW5/7 (bilateral arm impairments, with subcategories based on amputation levels) and LW6/8 (unilateral arm impairments). Combined impairments are LW9, with subcategories based on impact. Sitting classes LW10-12 address trunk and leg impairments from conditions like spinal cord injury, subdivided by control levels. Vision classes AS1-4 use LogMAR scores for acuity, with guides providing verbal directions; AS1 involves total impairment with blacked-out goggles.
Para cross-country skiing classes mirror alpine but with specifics like LW2 for above-knee leg loss equivalence, and vision classes NS1-3 where guides are optional for NS2 and NS3. Athletes meeting LW2-LW4 can choose standing or sitting.
Para snowboarding uses separate classes without factored timing; results rely on raw times. At Milano Cortina, no women's SB-UL event occurs, and SB-LL1 (significant leg impairments) with SB-LL2 (less severe leg impairments) compete together in women's snowboard cross and banked slalom. SB-UL covers upper limb impairments affecting balance.
FIS published a six-part series in 2025 detailing classification research, processes, impairment types, athlete perspectives, protests, and classifiers' roles.
