Finland to boycott Milan-Cortina Paralympics opening ceremony

Finland will not attend the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics on 6 March in Verona after the International Paralympic Committee granted wildcard entries to Russian and Belarusian athletes.

The Finnish Paralympic Committee announced the decision on Tuesday. The move follows a request from Ukraine. Estonia, Latvia and Poland will also stay away from the ceremony.

The boycott concerns the opening event only.

Finland will compete in the Games. Four Finnish athletes will take part.

The dispute centres on so-called bipartite invitations, known as wildcard places, allocated by the IPC. These places allow athletes to enter the Paralympics without qualifying directly through competition results. National paralympic committees submit applications for the places.

The IPC granted six wildcard places to Russian athletes in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and snowboarding. Four Belarusian athletes received places in cross-country skiing.

Without the wildcard allocations, Russian and Belarusian athletes would not have competed in those events. International federations have kept their own bans in place, which prevented athletes from the two countries from taking part in qualification competitions in cross-country skiing, biathlon, alpine skiing and snowboarding.

The Milan-Cortina Paralympics will also include para ice hockey and wheelchair curling.

In September 2025 the IPC decided that Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete under their national flags at the Paralympics. 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 the 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 still compete in the Games but will not attend the opening ceremony.

HT