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The 2021 World Para Ice Hockey A-Pool Championships, originally scheduled for early May in Ostrava, Czech Republic, have been postponed to 19-26 June due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The extra preparation time will be used to implement comprehensive health and safety protocols throughout the event in compliance with local and national guidelines, according World Para Ice Hockey and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC).World Para Ice Hockey Manager Michelle Laflamme stated, “World Para Ice Hockey is looking forward to bringing the World Championships back to Ostrava, and doing so in accordance with all health and safety procedures to ensure a safe event for all athletes, teams and staff involved. The World Championships will provide an exciting opportunity for people around the world to tune-in and witness the first Para ice hockey international event since the COVID-19 pandemic began.” Ostravar Arena will host the event for the second consecutive time and third time overall after staging the tournament in 2009 and 2019. Head of the Ostrava 2021 LOC, Jiri Sindler, said “The tournament will take place according to strict health and safety measures. We are already receiving great interest from fans in purchasing tickets, and we thank all of our fans for their support, however we will not be launching ticket sales at this time. We are working intensively to ensure that our fans will be able to watch the entire World Championships online.” In Ostrava, eight teams, ranked highest internationally, will compete for the world title and qualification slots for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. The top five teams at the World Championships will automatically qualify for the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics. The last three finishers will take part in a qualification tournament to be held at a later date to try to earn their spots in Beijing. The United States of America will enter the tournament as the defending Paralympic and world champions, and will be joined by Paralympic and world silver medallists Canada, Paralympic and world bronze medallists South Korea, host nation Czech Republic, and Norway and Italy. Russia and Slovakia, which finished in the top two spots at last year’s B-Pool World Championships in Berlin, complete the line-up. With more than 300,000 inhabitants, Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian region. Ostravar Arena, formerly known as the Culture and Sports Palace, was first opened in 1986 and has hosted many national, European and World Championships, as well as concerts and other popular events. The Arena was modernized in 2003 and is home to the HC Vitkovice Steel ice hockey team.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board decided against the inclusion of Para Bobsleigh at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games, and thus has finalized the sports program. In December 2020, the IPC announced that a decision on Para Bobsleigh’s inclusion at the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games would be deferred until early 2021 pending clarification in several areas. After clarifying these matters, the IPC Board decided not to include Para bobsleigh due to the sport not meeting the minimum criteria for the number of nations and regions regularly participating in the sport. According to data provided by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) to the IPC, the sport was widely and regularly practised in 10 countries and three IPC regions over the 2016/17-2019/20 seasons. The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation seemed to counter this claim in a press release on the matter. The statement read, “Statistics provided to the IPC showed that in the past two seasons 13 Nations regularly participated but in the year 2016/17 only eleven and 2017/18 only twelve nations can be seen as “regularly participating”. In the previous season 2019-2020 even 16 Nations participated.” Under the IPC Handbook, for the Paralympic Winter Games an individual sport must be widely and regularly practised at the performance level in a minimum of 12 countries and three IPC regions over the designated four-year period. IPC President Andrew Parsons, said, “The IPC Governing Board decided not to include Para bobsleigh in the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games after the sport fell short of the minimum criteria required in terms of global participation over the last four seasons. In our review of documentation provided by IBSF, 10 countries can be considered as widely and regularly practising the sport over the last four seasons. This is two short of the minimum criteria for inclusion in the Paralympic Winter Games.” He continued, “I know this will be understandably disappointing news to the Para bobsleigh community. However, the sport should be encouraged that if it can maintain the participation levels it had during the 2019/2020 season when 16 nations took part in performance competitions, it will be in a strong position for inclusion in the 2030 edition of the Games.” IBSF President Ivo Ferriani stated, “This is an extremely disappointing decision and we will follow-up with the IPC Governing Board accordingly. The IBSF has a strong commitment to Parasport and will continue so in the future. We all know how important it is for all para athletes to be accepted in the Paralympic program for their national fund programs. Most of our athletes are self-funded with a great financial and operational support from the IBSF side.” He continued, “Para Bobsleigh shows gender equity by not making a difference between a female or male athlete but having both gender slide with the same equipment and under the same conditions in one race. We will not give up fighting for our sports.” The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation was officially recognized as the governing body for Para Bobsleigh and Para Skeleton back in 2014. Regular IBSF Para World Cup races have been held since the 2014-2015 season. There has also been an annual world championship held in the sport since 2016. With the exclusion of Para Bobsleigh, the IPC confirmed that five para sports will feature on the program for the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. Para Alpine skiing, Para Ice Hockey, Para Nordic Skiing, Para Snowboard and Wheelchair Curling will compose the sports program. The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games are scheduled to take place between 6-15 March 2026.

The World Para Snow Sports Championships in Lillehammer, Norway, have been postponed to 2022.The first joint World Championships for Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country and Para snowboard were originally scheduled from 7-20 February 2021 and will now take place early January 2022. The reason for the postponement is the uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the challenges placed on organizers because of the it.The decision was made by the board of the Norwegian Ski Association, in consultation with World Para Snow Sports, the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the Norwegian Biathlon Federation, and the Norwegian Board Sports Federation. The announcement followed a series of meetings and a close dialogue with Norway’s national health authorities about future events this upcoming season. “We know how much the event means to many and we understand well the disappointment of having to wait a whole year, but the championships’ scope, duration and complexity cannot be accommodated under the current situation of the pandemic nationally and internationally,” said Erik Roste, President of the Norwegian Ski Association. “The risk of spreading infection among volunteers, competitors and in the local community does not make it justifiable to carry out the competition as planned.” Managing Director of the World Para Sports, Christian Holtz, said, “We were looking forward to the championships in Lillehammer next year, but we fully support the decision to postpone it to January 2022. While these were not the news we were hoping to share with our sport community, we will always put the health and well-being of athletes and all those involved in the competitions as our priority. All World Para Snow Sports Championships partners have done a fantastic job and we will now keep on working together with them to deliver our most important event to date.” With the decision to postpone, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) went from a planning period of 80 days to around 400 days.“Although the sporting performance of Para athletes is unique, Para sports have not always been given the great attention that the athletes really deserve. The enthusiasm we now experience around the athletes and the Word Championships we will build on every day until 2022 – and for many years to come,” said Ola Keul, Director of the Lillehammer 2021 LOC. Norwegian broadcaster NRK, which will produce and show the championships together with TV2, will also extend its involvement until 2022.With their new date in January 2022, the World Para Snow Sports Championships will be an important warm-up event for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. The rescheduled World Championships will retain the name Lillehammer 2021, and will likely be the largest para sport event in Norway since the 1994 Paralympic Winter Games in Lillehammer. It is expected that the championships will attract some 750 participants from over 30 nations, along with some 700 volunteers to aide in the running of the event. Further information about the postponed championships, such as the new competition schedule, will be released by organizers in the future.

The International Paralympic Committee has confirmed plans to send up to six athletes to the 2020 Paralympic Games as part of a Refugee Paralympic Team. The IPC will also work with its commercial partners and the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to create awareness of the plight faced by refugee athletes and to send a message of hope to the almost 80 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. Ileana Rodriguez, a former refugee and a London 2012 Paralympian, has been appointed Chef de Mission for the Refugee Paralympic Team. Speaking on her appointment, Rodriguez said, “It is an honour to be appointed by the IPC for this role. As a former refugee who was lucky enough to compete in the Paralympics, I appreciate the value of having a Refugee Paralympic Team - it represents sports beyond nationalities and our athletes who will compete in Tokyo will be a symbol of hope for other refugees around the world.” She further commented on her appointment saying, “We will also be proud to represent the legacy of Sir Ludwig Guttmann. He was a refugee who found a new home to welcome him and repaid that kindness by helping create one of the world’s great movements, the Paralympic Movement. I hope the RPT (Refugee Paralympic Team) will encourage others around the world to support refugee athletes and give them the platform to raise awareness of the plight faced by all refugees.” Rodriguez will work with the IPC to select the athletes who will form the Refugee Paralympic Team for Tokyo 2020. According to the IPC, in order to be considered for the team, athletes must have confirmed refugee status in accordance with international, national and regional law. They will be subject to selection by the IPC and/or their international federation, primarily based on their performance and them meeting the eligibility criteria. The IPC has yet to select any athletes for the Refugee Paralympic Team that will compete at Tokyo 2020. The IPC will offer a range of in and out of competition support to prospective refugee para athletes. The IPC will help prospective athletes meet the qualification target and eligibility criteria for the Games, provide funding for athletes to attend Tokyo 2020 qualification events, support athletes to prepare for competition, provide coaching support, support up to six athletes selected for Tokyo 2020 with their participation at the Paralympic Games, and provide legacy support that will help refugee para athletes compete in further competitions through to the end of 2021. Additionally, the IPC will work in close collaboration with UNHCR to leverage both, the Refugee Paralympic Team and the Paralympic Games, in order to send a strong message of support to all refugees and others who have been forced from their homes by conflict and persecution. According to the IPC, while all refugees face significant challenges, those with disabilities are frequently at heightened risk and face barriers to accessing assistance, services, and opportunities. Together with UNHCR, the IPC will continue to promote the active inclusion and full participation of refugees with disabilities in society through para sport. Dominique Hyde, Director of the Division of External Relations at the UN Refugee Agency, added, “Despite living a razor-edge existence and facing challenges to their training routines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the resilience and determination of these refugee athletes continues to shine through. UNHCR is delighted to support this initiative of the International Paralympic Committee. It will showcase the incredible abilities of these refugee Paralympians who have overcome, at times, insurmountable obstacles to reach the pinnacle of sport for all athletes.” The Refugee Paralympic Team builds on previous refugee initiatives created by the IPC. At the 2016 Paralympic Games, a two-person team of refugee and asylee athletes formed the Independent Paralympic Athletes Team. The athletes were: Ibrahim Al Hussein of Syria, who competed in the 50m and 100m S10 freestyle swimming events, and Shahrad Nasajpour of Iran, who competed in discus F37. Neither of the athletes won medals, but they did win over the hearts spectators at the Games. With just under 300 days to go until the 2020 Paralympic Games, preparations for the rescheduled Games are in full swing. The rescheduled 2020 Paralympic Games are slated to begin with the opening ceremony on August 24, 2020.

World Shooting Para Sport has launched a survey for athletes, coaches, National Paralympic Committee and National Federation representatives about the proposed changes for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games programme. The proposed changes are to add new disciplines for vision impaired (VI) shooting and shotgun (Para trap) to the Paralympics medal programme, while slightly altering the existing rifle events. To add the new disciplines, World Shooting Para Sport would need to combine the men’s and women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 (R1/R2) events and the men’s and women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 (R7/R8) events in order to have these quotas available for the additional events. The new R1/R2 and R7/R8 events would then be mixed gender events, instead of separate male and female events. Tyler Anderson, World Shooting Para Sport Senior Manager, said “The key change here is that these medal events will become more competitive with the increased number of competitors in each event. It is important to us that with these proposed changes SH1 rifle athletes still have the opportunity to win medals in four different events - this has not changed. The main aim of this change is to provide additional medal opportunities for our new and growing athlete populations.” World Shooting Para Sport first adopted Para trap in 2017. In Para trap, competitors use a shotgun to hit ‘clays’ which are propelled into the air from machines on the ground. The first Para Trap World Championships took place in Lonato del Garda, Italy in 2018.Vision Impaired (VI) shooting officially joined World Shooting Para Sport in 2019. In VI shooting, athletes use an audio signal to guide them in their aiming, with the audio signal rising in pitch as the point of aim moves nearer to the centre of the target. Both VI and Para trap were added to the Para Shooting World Championships programme for the first time last year in Sydney, Australia. Speaking about the new disciplines, Anderson added, “VI shooting gives us an exciting opportunity to expand how we showcase our sport to the world and allows us to grow our sport by welcoming a new athlete population. Shotgun is very much a part of our shooting sport family and allows us to reach new stakeholders and grow our sport together.” The Shooting para sport community have until November 30th to provide their feedback on the proposed program changes. World Shooting Para Sport will then make a decision on which events and disciplines they will ask the IPC to include on the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics program.