After record-breaking Paralympics in Italy, IPC president sees room to grow

By the numbers, Milano Cortina 2026 was the biggest Winter Paralympics yet.

More than 600 athletes from 55 different national Paralympic committees competed in 79 medal events, spread across six different sports. More women than ever before competed at the Games.

And perhaps most importantly, more people than ever watched those athletes compete.

"We had an impressive number of 650 million video views of those Games in 14 days," International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons said in an interview with CBC Sports's Anastasia Bucsis. "This is more than the whole year of 2024 together, including the Paris [Summer Paralympic] Games period. It’s mind blowing."

It comes on the heels of a record-breaking 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris that shattered every metric the IPC tracks, including spectators, the number people watching at home, and the number people interacting with Paralympic content on social media.

But Parsons still sees a lot of room for growth, especially when it comes to elevating the profile of the Winter Paralympics and its athletes.

"Where we see this movement going is that in 10 years time, first of all, people will be excited for the Paralympics as a sport event," Parsons said. "People will say, I want to go online, I want to see that final of wheelchair basketball or rugby, I want to see that track athlete. They will know these athletes by their names. They will be household names in their own countries."

Parsons would like to see more sports on the winter programme in 2030 and 2034.

There were 22 sports in the Paris Summer Paralympics in 2024, but only six sports in the Winter Games in Milano Cortina: Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country skiing, Para ice hockey, Para