Paralympics, Italia in gold with Emanuel Perathoner in snowboarding

Coming up next in Cortina is the mixed team curling match against the USA, an even more complex match after this morning's defeat against Canada. In the second half, however, the Azzurri changed their mentality, recovering many points. Egidio Marchese, the skipper of the Italian mixed curling team, is confident that this change of mindset will make the difference in the evening.

Born in 1968 in Acri (Cosenza), Egidio Marchese is a pioneer and pillar of the national team, the face of wheelchair curling in Italy. Paraplegic since 1997 due to an accident, he turned his challenge into a mission by founding the Disval di Aosta, the country's first team. For the Italian doyen, throwing stone is magic: a mix of billiards and chess born on a bet thanks to his friend Andrea Tabanelli. Like Skip (captain and strategist), Marchese leads the team by reading trajectories and calling the decisive shots. With experience from the Paralympics in Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010, he knows that concentration is the only real needle in the balance. In addition to the ice, he is a managerial reference point for inclusive sport.

Riccardo Cardani, a Paralympic snowboarder from Milan (from Cuggiono) had suffered a bad fall in training on Thursday 5 March, which led to him breaking his helmet and losing consciousness for 45 seconds. After checks at the hospital, he had been deemed fit to compete, and had therefore participated in the opening ceremony at the Arena in Verona. Today, however, there was another fall for him, which landed him in hospital again. After a brain and cervical spine CT scan, which proved negative, he returned to the Paralympic village in Cortina. The Italian athlete is in good physical condition, but the medical staff has advised him to stop competing.

The day of competition continues for the Italian wheelchair curling team. The evening programme still sees matches in the mixed team round robin. At 18.35, China-Korea, Canada-Norway and - most importantly - USA-Italy will take to the ice.

The International Paralympic Committee has announced an all-time record for women's participation in the Paralympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina 2026, with 160 athletes competing in the six disciplines of the programme, 24 more than the previous record of Beijing 2022. The female representation is not limited to competitions. Even the Opening Ceremony has become a ground for progress. Following the IOC's decision to invite each National Olympic Committee to designate two flag-bearers - one woman and one man - Beijing 2022 saw a woman among the flag-bearers in 73 per cent of the CONs, a significant increase over previous editions. When women first participated in the Winter Olympic Games, in Chamonix 1924, they accounted for just 4.3 per cent of the competitors and competed exclusively in figure skating. Since then, each decade has brought new opportunities: from the introduction of women's ice hockey in Nagano 1998 to women's bobsleigh in Salt Lake City 2002, to the steady growth of mixed disciplines.

After the six matches played so far in the round robin of these Winter Games in Milan Cortina, this is the ranking:

1- China (6 victories)

Too bad for the Italian duo Bertò-Ioriatti. Yet another match decided at the last throw saw them leave the ice defeated against the Americans. For them, their chances of reaching the semifinals vanished.

At the end of the seventh end. The last round of the match sees the Azzurri start at a disadvantage, but they will have the hammer - the so-called gavel - at their disposal, i.e. the advantage of throwing the last stone in one 'hand' (end). It is considered a valuable tactical advantage, because whoever possesses the hammer has the chance to close the end by scoring points. The Azzurri must win this match if they are to have any remaining hope of advancing to the semi-finals.

It was a tie in the penultimate end of the challenge against the Americans.

From motorbikes to ice: after an accident at the age of 19 that left him paraplegic, Paolo Ioriatti turned anger into a springboard to sporting excellence. His love at first sight with curling began in 2008: after just one year he was already the Italia champion. Since then, his rise has been constant, including team successes and the historic bronze medal at the Mixed Doubles World Championships 2024, in Korea, with Orietta Bertò. For him, curling is a 'chess game' where mental strength and team harmony are vital. Reliable and diplomatic, on the ice he puts aside all dissension to focus on the goal, driven by a competitive soul that loves to win and takes care of every detail. In view of the excitement of the debut in Milan Cortina 2026, his mantra has been one: 'Be there!

Palmares:

World Mixed Curling Championships 2025 Stevenston (SCO) 16th 2024 Gangneung (KOR) 3rd 2022 Lohja (FIN) 4th

Paralimpiadi Milano Cortina 2026 - Curling in carrozzina - Doppio misto Round Robin Sessione 6 - Stati Uniti d'America vs Italia - Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italia - 8 marzo 2026. Orietta Berto (Italia) e Paolo Ioriatti (Italia) osservano REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki

At the sixth end.

Not to be confused with singer Berti, Orietta Bertò is a pillar of Italian wheelchair curling. A former volleyball player, after an accident in 1990 that made her a paraplegic, she has never given up the sport: from wheelchair tennis she has come to 'chess on ice', where the head counts as much as the technique. Collaborative and competitive, Orietta loves the precision required by wheelchair curling - where it is not possible, after shooting, to sweep the ice as in Olympic curling to adjust the shot - but she admits with a smile that she suffers from the cold of the rinks. For her, the key to success is harmony: she enters the field calmly and thoughtfully, loading herself with energetic music to avoid nervousness that could break the harmony with her teammate. Protagonist of the historic 2024 world bronze medal in Gangneung, South Korea, before arriving in Milan Cortina described the anticipation of the Games using just one word: 'Enthusiasm'. Of curling Orietta loves the satisfaction of hitting the perfect, decisive shot. The least pleasant aspect? 'Playing in the cold'.

Palmares:

On ice, mixed doubles pair Orietta Bertò and Paolo Ioriatti against the United States

The Italian on the first step of the podium smiles and embraces his opponents.

Gold to China's Jiayun Cai, silver to Canada's Mark Arendz and bronze to Germany's Marco Maier. The trio dominated the men's para-biathlon individual standing event, devouring the passes to the polygon and the circuit of Lake Tesero. A good performance by the only Italian competing, Cristian Toninelli. The Bergamasque, at his third Paralympics, finished in sixteenth position, confirming good technique in the fractions on skis. Too many errors in the polygon passes.

It is the first Paralympics for Emanuel Perathoner, who debuts with the most valuable medal. But this is not the first time Emanuel has shone on the international sporting scene. Born in 1986 in Bolzano, Perathoner has already been a world snowboard star with two Olympic participations in Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018. His career took an abrupt turn in January 2021: a very serious injury to his left leg while preparing for Beijing 2022. After four surgeries and the fitting of a total knee replacement, the challenge seemed to be over. Instead, after a year of rehabilitation, Emanuel is back on the board, reinventing himself as Paralympic champion. "You have to try to be positive and look at the good side of what happens," says the South Tyrolean rider, who has been skiing since he was three years old and chose snowboarding in the 1990s for pure fun. "I would like to win, of course, but above all I would like to have fun in front of my family and show all the kids how crucial it is to never give up," he said before arriving in Milan Cortina.

It is beautiful, it is what we have been aiming for, what we have been working on all these seasons and it is wonderful'. This is the first comment of Emanuel Perathoner, Paralympic champion in snowboarding and first gold medallist in Milan Cortina. "Someone got hurt," he added, "but in the end everything went well. Next week is the next competition (the men's Banked slalom, ed), so we are aiming for gold in that one too. I have always dominated in that discipline, so let's hope well. But my favourite discipline is this one.

Emanuel Perathoner ha vinto la medaglia d’oro nello snowboard cross uomini (SB-LL2) alle Paralimpiadi di Milano Cortina. È il primo oro per i colori azzurri dei Giochi 2026. Sulla pista di Cortina D’Ampezzo ha preceduto l’australiano Ben Tudhope e il coreano Lee Jehyuk.

Further reading

Paralympics, Italia's first medals in downhill: Mazzel silver Bertagnolli bronze

06 March 2026