IPC hails biggest Winter Paralympics ever and record female participation at Milan Cortina Games

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The International Paralympic Committee is celebrating the biggest ever Paralympic Winter Games in history and a record female participation at Milan Cortina.

The Games will officially kick off on Friday with an opening ceremony that is set to be boycotted by some nations because of the return of the Russian flag and national anthem to the global stage.

The IPC said Thursday that a record number of 56 nations are bringing 616 athletes to compete across 79 medal events in six sports, surpassing the previous record of 564 athletes from 49 nations at Pyeongchang 2018.

Among the nations set to participate at Milan Cortina is Iran despite the intensifying war with the United States and Israel. Para cross-country skier Aboulfazl Khatibi was announced as the nation's flagbearer.

He will not actually carry the flag on Friday as volunteers will be handed the task for all nations because not all flagbearers will be able to attend the ceremony in Verona for logistics and training issues.

The Milan Cortina Games mark the 50th anniversary of the Winter Paralympics. Less than 200 athletes from 18 countries competed in two sports in Ornskoldsvik in 1976.

A record number of female athletes will compete for the fourth straight Paralympic Winter Games, the IPC said.

There will be 160 female competitors at Milan Cortina, 24 more than the previous record in Beijing 2022.

“That's fantastic,” U.S. wheelchair curler Laura Dwyer said when told about the female participation record. “As a female, as a mom, as someone injured ... it feels amazing to be a part of that, to show the way for others."

The 48-year-old Dwyer had a life-threatening accident in 2012 when she was working as a landscaper and an 1,000-pound tree branch fell on her. She was left paralyzed from the waist down.

"Anyone can just go for it,” she said.

Six different nations will bring record numbers of female athletes: Australia (5), Belarus (3), Brazil (3), Croatia (2), Korea (6) and Latvia (4).

Five sports will have a record number of female competitors: Para alpine skiing (57), Para biathlon (45), Para cross-country skiing (65), Para snowboard (15) and wheelchair curling (25).

In Para ice hockey, which is a mix-gender event, a female athlete will compete for the second consecutive time and the fourth-time ever since the sport was included in the Games.

There are five countries debuting at the Winter Paralympics: El Salvador, Haiti, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Portugal.

China, which topped the medal count for the first time at Beijing 2022, brought the biggest delegation with 70 athletes, followed by the U.S. with 68 and Canada with 46. Italy has 42 athletes competing at home, it biggest roster ever.

Six other nations sent their biggest delegations ever to a Paralympic Winter Games: Brazil (8), Czech Republic (24), Kazakhstan (7), Latvia (7), Slovakia (28) and Ukraine (25).

“The number of records that Milano Cortina 2026 is setting in terms of competing athletes and delegations is a testament to the fantastic work of the NPCs and International Federations in the lead-up to the Games," IPC executive director Colleen Wrenn said. "While the number of competitors has increased, so has the intensity of competition with each medal event now boasting a depth of talent never seen to such a level before at Paralympic Winter Games.”

AP Winter Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games

Katlin Riidebach, of Estonia, competes in a wheelchair curling mixed doubles round robin session against Italy at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Stephen Emt of the United States gestures with Laura Dwyer as they compete against Estonia in a wheelchair curling mixed doubles round robin session at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Laura Dwyer, of the United States competes against Estonia in a wheelchair curling mixed doubles round robin session at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Concern is rising that the first major storm outbreak on the verge of spring could strike the nation's heartland, putting millions of Americans from Texas to Iowa at risk of potentially strong tornadoes.

Some scattered severe thunderstorms were expected to begin late Thursday in the Texas Panhandle and across western Oklahoma and parts of Kansas, the National Weather Service said. Large hail, damaging winds and possibly a few tornadoes were also expected, according to the forecasters.

The strongest storms are forecast to develop Friday in a zone that includes much of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri and areas of some nearby states.

“This is probably our first real event this season where people are really starting to pay attention getting into the spring storm season,” said Melissa Mayes, deputy director of the Washington County Emergency Management Agency in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, north of Tulsa.

More than 6 million Americans are at the highest risk of severe weather Friday in an area that includes the metropolitan areas of Kansas City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to the national Storm Prediction Center. Another 22 million people are at a slightly lesser risk in a zone that includes Oklahoma City; St. Louis; Omaha, Nebraska; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“We're right in the middle of it,” said John Stipetich, deputy emergency management director in Douglas County, Kansas, home to the University of Kansas.

Stipetich has been working this week with forecasters to glean details of what's expected and then turn that into a situation report he can share with schools, government agencies and others in the community.

The general setup for the strong storms is a clash between warm air streaming north from the Gulf Coast and cooler Canadian air behind cold fronts, according to meteorologists with the private forecasting service AccuWeather.

In parts of the eastern U.S., this weather pattern is also expected to usher in extremely warm temperatures for this time of year by the weekend.

“Temperatures will be 20-30 degrees above average, with 80s reaching as far north as parts of the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic,” federal forecasters wrote in their long-range forecast discussion. “Daily records could become widespread.”

The high temperature in Louisville, Kentucky, for instance, is expected to reach 81 degrees (27.2 Celsius) by Friday, the weather service predicts. Atlanta's high temperature is expected to hit 82 degrees (27.8 Celsius) by Saturday. The forecast for Washington, D.C., calls for a high temperature of 74 degrees (23.3 Celsius) on Saturday.

The spring storms in the forecast come near the start of what many call tornado season, which generally begins at different times in different parts of the United States.

In what has historically been known as Tornado Alley — a designation that typically includes Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas — the peak of tornado season is May into early June. But the season starts earlier in what is often called Dixie Alley made up of southern states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

Experts recommend a few simple safety steps to take before tornadoes hit.

For Mayes and other emergency managers at this time of year, social media is a key tool for raising awareness of the risks that storm season brings.

“We will probably start pushing out some safety tips this afternoon,” she said.

In Lawrence, Kansas, emergency managers must deliver information and warnings to a mix of university students, staff and visitors who might not be familiar with Kansas weather.

“Even people who have lived in Kansas their whole life sometimes get confused about what the siren means,” Stipetich said. “If you hear the siren, there’s a tornado coming and you need to take cover.”

FILE - This photo shows the National Weather Service monitoring station in Brownville, Texas, May 23, 2014. (David Pike/Valley Morning Star via AP, File)