Figure skaters with disabilities seek a place in the Paralympic spotlight

As a long jumper, Stef Reid never thought she'd need to learn how to land on ice. Now she's part of a movement hoping to get figure skating into the Paralympics.

Skating sports are a big gap on the program when the Winter Paralympics start on Friday. Figure skaters with disabilities challenge the norm in a sport with often-fixed ideas about how a skater should look.

Reid's path to figure skating is unique. An amputee athlete who won three Paralympic medals in track and field, she was a familiar face on British TV. Being invited to appear on the 2022 series of a celebrity skating show, “Dancing On Ice,” still came as a shock.

“It had just never crossed my mind because it is probably one of the last sports you think about for somebody with a physical disability,” Reid tells the AP.

“Even if you are quote-unquote ‘able bodied,’ it’s still dangerous, and so it just never really occurred to me. But when they asked, I was like, 'This is amazing.'”

Learning to skate meant Reid, who uses a prosthetic right leg after a boating accident at 15, had to find ways to train her hip muscles to do the jobs other skaters' knees and ankles do. Her prosthetist developed a leg that would let her glide across the ice.

“Every day, every week it would be a new prototype which meant all the pressure points were different, and I basically was having to start over again,” she says.

“There was a very large period where we just thought, ‘Maybe this just isn’t going to work. Maybe this is a bit of a step too far,' and then this amazing thing happened. After 10 weeks of being really bad, my brain just kind of kicked into gear."

Reid built momentum and reached the quarterfinals of “Dancing On Ice” after weeks of live competition for a national audience.

Since then, she's become a leading competitor in Inclusive Skating, the main body trying to get figure skating Paralympic recognition, and competes at the British adult nationals alongside skaters who don't have disabilities.

Olympic figure skating has gone through years of difficult conversations about diversity on the ice, or the lack of it, but Reid says she’s always felt welcome.

“No coach has ever been like, ‘No, I don’t want to coach somebody with a disability.’ It’s more like, ‘Oh gosh, I don’t know if I have the skillset,’” Reid says.

“As (coaches are) getting their confidence in terms of how to adapt and adjust, then it doesn’t matter what your disability is, they can teach anybody.”

Would-be skaters haven't always been accepted, though.

“There’s been quite a lot of discrimination against skaters, both directly to me and also reported to the skaters,” says Margarita Sweeney-Baird, founder of Inclusive Skating.

“For example, ‘Skating is beautiful,’ therefore disability skating is not to be allowed because it’s not beautiful in this person’s eyes,” Sweeney-Baird recalls, along with simply: “'We don’t think that you should be on the ice with us.'”

A former champion skater and coach, Sweeney-Baird funded a trust to promote skating for people with disabilities in the 1990s. She was frustrated at the lack of progress and in the early 2010s decided to set up her own competitions. Among those who've benefited is Sweeney-Baird's daughter Juliana, a keen skater who is visually impaired.

The Paralympics doesn't yet have any “performance sports" based around artistry. Sweeney-Baird created her own judging system to reward skaters for what they can do, not deduct points for what they can't.

Programs are shorter with limits on the number of jumps, because repeated landing on a prosthetic can be painful. Other events without jumps suit skaters with spinal conditions. Most skaters are women, and Inclusive Skating allows same-gender pairs to offer more chances to compete.

A collaboration with the Special Olympics offers skating events for athletes with intellectual disabilities, who haven't always been accepted at the Paralympics.

Getting onto the Paralympic program would mean funding and recognition for skaters, Sweeney-Baird says.

New sports must show there's a deep enough field of athletes from around the world. Sweeney-Baird says skating meets those targets. For now, the main way for skaters to spread the word is on social media.

Reid shares videos of her skating journey to more than 46,000 Instagram followers, and Inclusive Skating swaps coaching tips and competition dates. Innovations spread, too.

When she spoke to the AP in January, Reid was excited about a video she’d seen of an amputee skater who seemed to have controlled ankle movement in her prosthetic leg, opening up exciting new possibilities on the ice.

“I was like, ‘Whoa,’” Reed says. “I need to call her up and be like, ‘How did you guys achieve this?’”

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Stef Reid, a former Paralympic athlete who now does figure skating, wears a specialized, custom-engineered prosthetic blade after competing in the British Adult Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Stef Reid, a former Paralympic athlete who now does figure skating, warmes up before competing in the British Adult Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Stef Reid, a former Paralympic athlete who now does figure skating, competes in the British Adult Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Stef Reid, a former Paralympic athlete who now does figure skating, competes in the British Adult Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Stef Reid, a former Paralympic athlete who now does figure skating, competes in the British Adult Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

BRUSSELS (AP) — The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes across the Middle East are quickly dragging Europe in, forcing the continent into defensive action to protect military bases and evacuate citizens caught up in the conflict.

The Middle East is home to some of Europe's key trading partners, and a number of strategic trading routes. Many Europeans live in cities such as Beirut, Dubai or Jerusalem, while large communities from countries including Turkey, Egypt and the Gulf states have settled across Europe. Europeans weren’t consulted on this U.S.-Israeli operation but are now dealing with the fallout.

While refusing to directly join the war, Britain, France and Germany have said they would work with the United State to help stop Iran’s attacks. The U.K. will allow U.S. forces to use British bases to attack Iran’s missiles and launch sites.

But Europe itself is not immune. Cyprus, holder of the European Union’s rotating presidency, had to insist that it was not involved in the conflict after a Shahed-type drone damaged a U.K. air base on the island’s southern coast over the weekend. The Shaheds were developed by Iran but have already been used in Europe, by Russia in its war on Ukraine.

Wary of other attacks at home, some European countries are also beefing up security at train stations and airports.

Still, almost no European leader has criticized the U.S.-Israeli attacks. Many are satisfied to see the downfall of an Iranian regime that has for years arrested European citizens and challenged Europe’s economic interests.

Spain has been a rare dissenting voice. “One can be against a hateful regime,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Sunday, “and at the same time, be against a military intervention that is unjustifiable, dangerous and outside of international law.”

At the same time, helping to foster stability in the volatile Middle East region is a European priority. Fears over a sustained hike in oil prices, and the possibility of a new wave of unpredictable migration mean that the continent must remain involved.

Europe’s major short-term priority is ensuring the safety of thousands of citizens caught up in the war as it spreads.

Concerns about getting people out were raised during an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers over the weekend. No joint evacuation effort was launched, but one could be needed imminently.

Germany says that about 30,000 German tourists are stuck on cruise ships, in hotels or at closed airports and cannot get back home because of the conflict. Most of them are in the Middle East but some are further afield, stranded because their travel connections run through Abu Dhabi, Qatar or Dubai. A military evacuation was not possible due to airspace closures.

The Czech Republic, meanwhile, has sent two planes to Egypt and Jordan to bring home Czech nationals, dozens of whom have traveled by bus from Israel. Another four planes were to be sent to Oman to pick up more of the estimated 6,700 Czechs in the region.

Iran has been threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, and ships have been attacked there. Calls have mounted for the EU to help protect merchant vessels.

In response, France was sending two more warships to beef up Operation Aspides, the bloc’s naval mission in the region. But they would only deploy to the distant Red Sea and Gulf of Aden — gateways to the Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean — to join three other ships already in place.

Operation Aspides was set up two years ago, to help defend maritime traffic against possible attacks by Houthi rebels based in Yemen. But while the Houthis have expressed support for Iran, they did not immediately announce any military action on its behalf.

Discussion is underway on a review of the operation’s mandate and a possible toughening of its rules of engagement, but no changes are expected soon.

Maintaining stability in the wider Middle East is a key European concern. Iran’s acts of retaliation in several countries have been widely condemned.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is expected to convene a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council countries at foreign minister level later this week, as the bloc continues to try to reassure Iran’s neighbors and other vulnerable countries nearby.

“Iran’s attacks of a number of countries in the Middle East are inexcusable. The events must not lead to further escalation that could threaten the region, Europe and beyond, with unpredictable consequences,” Kallas said after chairing Sunday’s emergency talks.

The EU intends to drive diplomatic efforts to help reduce tensions, and still aims to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons despite its nuclear development deal falling apart after the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an interview that the United States’ and Israel’s war against Iran is crucial for security in Europe. He said the allies could support the effort even without direct involvement in military operations, through logistics and access.

Rutte, a former prime minister of the Netherlands, said he unreservedly approves of Trump’s decision to attack Iran and kill its supreme leader, raising the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

“It would be a stranglehold on Israel. It could potentially mean Israel’s defeat,” Rutte told German public broadcaster ARD in its Brussels studio on Monday.

When asked the possibility of NATO entering the war, Rutte said absolutely no one believed that NATO would be involved. “This is Iran, this is the Gulf, this is outside NATO territory,” he said.

NATO troops deployed for 18 years to Afghanistan and its 2011 air campaign helped topple Libya’s late leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Officials say the EU has no preferred candidate to take over in Tehran, and in any case it’s too early to tell who might be best to back as future leader. The foreign ministers primarily expressed “solidarity with the Iranian people.”

They offered support to “their fundamental aspirations for a future where their universal human rights and fundamental freedoms are fully respected.”

The Europeans insist that a genuine popular movement against the regime arose in recent months but that it was shut down in an unprecedented wave of violence. Thousands were killed and tens of thousands detained.

One thing is clear. The EU is unlikely to back any leadership pushed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The IRGC was added the bloc’s terror list last month, making it almost impossible for the Europeans to take them seriously as an interlocutor.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

A Fighter Jet takes off from the U.K.'s RAF Akrotiri air base after it was hit by a drone strike early morning near Limassol, Cyprus, Monday, March, 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

A traveler checks departure times as many flights are cancelled at Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, as many airlines canceled flights due to the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)