Enjoy more winter sports action with the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games live on Virgin TV

If you’ve caught the winter sports bug after getting into the recent Olympic Winter Games on Virgin TV, we’ve got good news – there’s lots more of it on your telly over the coming days! Get ready to marvel at the skill and bravery of another group of exceptional athletes flying down snowbound slopes at speed, clashing on the ice or displaying heroic levels of endurance on skis as the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games begin.

The first Paralympic Winter Games were held in Sweden in 1976, with 196 athletes from 16 countries competing in Alpine and Nordic skiing. Now, as the Winter Paralympics celebrates its 50th birthday, it’s an altogether more expansive affair. The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games will feature 79 medal events across six sports, with 600-plus participants from more than 50 nations.

It all begins on Friday 6 March with the opening ceremony at the Verona Arena – the first time a UNESCO World Heritage Site has staged a Paralympics opening event – when the arrival of the flame will mark the start of the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. Read on to find out all about the sports and athletes involved, including British medal hopes, and all the details you need to watch this thrilling sporting event.

Channel 4 is the Paralympic Winter Games broadcaster, which means that the TV coverage will be available to all Virgin TV customers at no extra cost, while it will also be streaming in Apps > Channel 4 for customers with our Stream, Virgin TV 360 or V6 boxes. If you want to upgrade for the absolute maximum coverage, explore our amazing TV deals here.

Kick off your viewing with the opening ceremony live from Verona at 6.30pm on Friday 6 March on Channel 4 HD (CH 104). The ceremony will be simulcast on 4seven HD (CH 143) and in Apps > Channel 4 with British Sign Language translation and an open descriptive commentary. Then there’s live coverage every day on Channel 4 HD and the Channel 4 app.

If you miss anything, you can catch up in a daily highlights show at 6.30pm on Channel 4 HD (CH 104), every day from Saturday 7 to Saturday 14 March. The closing ceremony, with the same simulcast set-up as the opener, is at 7.30pm on Sunday 15 March.

And don’t forget you can follow all the live action wherever you are in the UK, if there’s WiFi, 3G or 4G, thanks to Virgin TV Go. Simply download the free app, which is free to all Virgin TV customers and is compatible with Android, iOS, Windows 10 and PC/Mac. Download the Virgin TV Go app.

There are six sports featured in the Paralympic Winter Games, which may not sound a huge number, but with various categories within each discipline there’s plenty of action to keep you gripped throughout the event. Here’s a quick breakdown.

Para Alpine skiing

The classic winter sports event with athletes speeding down steep slopes, weaving between gates. It’s divided into speed (downhill and Super-G) and technical (slalom and giant slalom) events, plus combined, in which athletes take on a slalom and either downhill or Super-G.

In the Winter Paralympics these are subdivided into three further categories: visual impairment (in which athletes are assisted by a sighted guide), standing (for athletes with upper or lower limb impairments, or both) and sitting. In sitting races, athletes use a sit-ski, a seat mounted on skis, and propel themselves with their upper body.

Medal events: 30

When to watch: 7, 9-10 + 12-15 March

Para cross-country skiing

In this test of endurance, athletes race across a variety of terrain types, skiing uphill, downhill and level tracks. There are sprint, 10km and 20km races, as well as open and mixed team relays, and within this are two styles: classic (where athletes ski in pre-made snow tracks) and freestyle (where they carve their own path by pushing side to side). Once again, this is divided into visual impairment (VI), standing and sitting.

Medal events: 20

When to watch: 10-11 + 14-15 March

Para biathlon

It’s cross-country skiing with a twist: athletes race around a looped course and between laps, they pause at the shooting range, where they must hit five targets. For each missed shot, competitors either get a time penalty or ski a penalty loop, depending on the event.

Sitting and standing athletes shoot from a prone position, while VI athletes are assisted by acoustic signals that help indicate their accuracy. Within the VI, standing and sitting categories, athletes are grouped into sport classes based on the impact of their impairments.

In all three of the para skiing events, a formula is used for each sport class to adjust the raw time and calculate a final factored time. The athlete with the fastest factored time wins.

Medal events: 18

When to watch: 7-8 + 13 March

Para snowboarding

There are two para snowboard events: banked slalom, in which athletes race down a winding course packed with tight turns; and snowboard cross, in which they race on a specially built course with features such as banks, rollers and jumps. In both, each athlete gets two attempts, with their best time determining the result.

The athlete groupings are different for this sport. Sport class SB-UL includes competitors with upper limb impairments, while athletes with lower limb impairments compete in sport classes SB-LL1 or SB-LL2 and can use prosthetics or adaptive equipment.

Medal events: 8

When to watch: 7-8 + 14 March

Para ice hockey

Like the version played in the Olympic Winter Games, para ice hockey is a fast-paced six-a-side team game in which players try to send the puck beyond the goaltender. In the Winter Paralympics, it’s contested by athletes with an impairment in the lower body, sitting on specially designed sledges fitted with skates, and each carrying two sticks.

The other difference is that it’s not separated into men’s and women’s categories – the teams can be mixed, which means there’s just one coveted gold up for grabs.

Medal events: 1

When to watch: 7, 9-10 + 12-15 March

Wheelchair curling

Thousands of British viewers found themselves gripped by this sport in which Olympians pushed granite stones along an ice course with teamwork and precision. Paralympians with lower body impairments do the same while using wheelchairs, employing sticks to push the stones.

There are mixed team and mixed doubles events, and each end begins with two stones pre-positioned. Prepare to be drawn in once again by this strangely hypnotic sport.

Medal events: 2

When to watch: 4-14 March (action before 7 March is on Channel 4 Sport’s YouTube channel)

Expect to hear the name Brenna Huckaby a lot. The US snowboarder (pictured) is an icon of para sports, not just for her four medals – three golds, one bronze – across PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022 but for her mental health and body positivity campaigning. Fast and fearless in both banked slalom and snowboard cross, the 30-year-old will be expecting to add to her medal collection.

As in the Olympic Winter Games, where they topped the medal table, Norway have a strong Paralympic team. It’s led by Jesper Pedersen, the para Alpine skier who almost swept the board in the sitting events at Beijing 2022, coming away with four golds and a downhill silver. In his third Paralympic Winter Games, he’ll be looking to complete the set.

Two visually impaired skiers are leading the charge for the host nation. Giacomo Bertagnolli already has four Paralympic medals and will be competing across all five para Alpine events, while multiple world champion Chiara Mazzel will be aiming for her first Paralympic medal.

And expect Japan and China to feature prominently on the medal table: having invested heavily in recruitment, training and infrastructure for para winter sports athletes, they have by far the biggest teams here.

Britain’s most decorated Paralympian, VI Alpine skier Menna Fitzpatrick, has recovered from a knee injury in time to join up with the ParalympicsGB team and will be attempting to expand her medal collection which already includes a gold, three silvers and two bronzes. Fred Warburton is also a VI Alpine medal contender, while Ollie Hill took SB-LL2 bronze in the banked slalom snowboard at Beijing 2022 and is back in the ParalympicsGB team with the aim of finishing higher on the podium.

GB will – of course – participate in curling, where Jo Butterfield (pictured) is aiming to be the first British athlete to win gold at both the Summer and Winter Paralympics following her Rio 2016 triumph in the club throw. And the team is breaking new ground in 2026 with the inclusion of their first ever female Paralympic snowboarder, Nina Sparks, as well as Davy Zyw, who’s thought to be the first snowsports athlete with motor neurone disease ever to compete at the Paralympic Winter Games.

The daily live coverage on Channel 4 HD (CH 104) and in Apps > Channel 4 begins at 8am from Saturday 7 to Wednesday 11 March, and then at 7.50am every day for the remainder of the 2026 Winter Paralympics. You can also watch the action on Channel 4 Sport’s YouTube channel. Former racing driver Billy Monger and ex-rugby star Ed Jackson are the presenters, while Ade Adepitan – a GB wheelchair basketball Paralympian at Athens 2004 – will present the 6.30pm highlights show. All three will be on hand for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Record-breaking Paralympian Sarah Storey and three-time Paralympic swimming champion Alice Tai will be reporting from the events and the athletes’ village, while expert commentary comes from skiing Paralympians Jade Etherington and Sean Rose.

All content will be subtitled, while Channel 4’s live broadcast coverage will have live audio description available from 10.30am each day. As well as the BSL and descriptive options for the opening and closing ceremonies mentioned above, the daily highlights programme will include live BSL translation.

Love live sport? Watch Sky Sports, TNT Sports and more favourites with our Sports TV Package deals.