The Cortina Curling Stadium in Italy is undergoing modifications for the 2026 Winter Paralympics, including updated branding and accessibility improvements for wheelchair curling events. Canadian athlete Ina Forrest, a decorated wheelchair curler from Spallumcheen, will compete as co-captain for Team Canada when competitions begin on March 4. The venue will also host the closing ceremony on March 15.
In Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, preparations are underway at the historic 1956 Olympic curling stadium, now transitioning to host paralympic events. Subtle changes include replacing Olympic rings and logos with paralympic branding on in-ice surfaces and external signage. For athlete safety and accessibility, hand rails have been added to the field-of-play access ramp, while equipment modifications are being made in the Athlete Warm Up area. Furniture and fittings in changing rooms have also been updated to meet paralympic requirements.
Wheelchair curling competitions are set to start on March 4, 2026, two days before the overall paralympic opening ceremony in Verona. The stadium will culminate the games by hosting the Winter Paralympic closing ceremony on March 15, featuring enhanced rigging and lighting beyond what was used for the preceding Olympic events.
Among the Canadian contingent of 50 athletes, three hail from the Okanagan-Shuswap region. Ina Forrest, from Spallumcheen, will lead Team Canada’s wheelchair curling squad as co-captain, alongside athletes from para alpine skiing, para nordic skiing, para ice hockey, and para snowboard. Forrest has a storied career, securing gold medals in 2010 and 2014, bronzes in 2018 and 2022, and three world titles across 14 championships. She was inducted into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame in 2025.
Natalie Wilkie from Salmon Arm will compete in para-nordic skiing, building on her previous successes with three golds, two silvers, and two bronzes from PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022. Vernon’s Boris Rybalka serves as head coach for Canada’s National Para Hockey Team, having contributed to a 2024 world championship gold and 2025 silver as assistant coach.
Forrest highlighted the unity of the games: “To me, the specialness of the Paralympic Games revolves around all the winter sports and athletes coming together as one big Team Canada. It is a supercharging dynamic,” she said on the Canadian Paralympic Committee website.
