Finland will boycott the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics opening ceremony in Verona on 6 March after the International Paralympic Committee granted wildcard entries to Russian and Belarusian athletes.
The Finnish Paralympic Committee confirmed the decision on Tuesday, citing a request from Ukraine for support. Estonia, Latvia, and Poland have announced similar plans to skip the ceremony. The boycott applies solely to the opening event. Finnish athletes will still compete in the Games, with four participants representing the country.
The dispute centers on bipartite invitations, commonly known as wildcard entries. These places allow athletes to participate in the Paralympics without meeting standard qualification results. National Paralympic Committees submit applications for these invitations, which are then approved by the IPC.
For the Milan-Cortina Paralympics, six Russian athletes received wildcard entries in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and snowboarding. Four Belarusian athletes were granted places in cross-country skiing. Without these allocations, athletes from Russia and Belarus would not have competed, as international federations have maintained bans preventing their participation in qualifying events across multiple sports.
Sari Rautio, chair of the Finnish Paralympic Committee, explained that Finland’s decision follows a direct appeal from Ukraine.
“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 itself will compete in the Games but will also refrain from attending the opening ceremony, aligning with Finland’s stance on this specific diplomatic gesture.
In September 2025, the IPC allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their national flags at the Paralympics. This marked a shift from the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games, where athletes from both countries competed under a neutral designation. The wildcard allocations for Milan-Cortina have intensified scrutiny over the IPC’s approach to Russian and Belarusian participation amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
Despite the opening ceremony boycott, the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics will proceed with a full program, including para ice hockey, wheelchair curling, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and snowboarding. Finland, Ukraine, and other nations will continue to compete while using selective diplomatic gestures to express their positions on international sports governance.
