Beijing 2022 Paralympics: What sports are included in the Winter Paralympics and which countries are competing?

With five parasports being held during the Paralympic Games, 78 events will be taking place, which is two lower than in 2018.

What sports will be included in the Beijing 2022 Paralympics?

The five sports are as follows:

- Alpine skiing

- Nordic skiing (biathlon and cross-country skiing)

- Para ice hockey

- Snowboarding

- Wheelchair curling

Which countries will be competing in the 2022 winter Paralympics?

There will be 49 countries competing altogether.

These are the countries participating in the games in alphabetical order.

- Andorra

- Argentina

- Armenia

- Australia

- Austria

- Azerbaijan

- Belgium

- Bosnia and Herzegovina

- Brazil

- Bulgaria

- Canada

- Chile

- China

- Croatia

- Czech Republic

- Denmark

- Estonia

- Finland

- France

- Georgia

- Germany

- Great Britain

- Greece

- Hungary

- Iceland

- Iran

- Israel

- Italy

- Japan

- Kazakhstan

- Latvia

- Liechtenstein

- Mexico

- Mongolia

- Netherlands

- New Zealand

- Norway

- Poland

- Puerto Rico

- Romania

- Slovakia

- Slovenia

- South Korea

- Spain

- Sweden

- Switzerland

- Ukraine

- United States

- Uzbekistan

Which countries will not be participating in the Paralympic games?

On February 24, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IOC condemned the breach of the Olympic Truce by Russia.

The president of the IPC, Andrew Parsons, stated that sending the Ukrainian team to Beijing would be a ‘mammoth challenge’. So the IOC called for the flags of both Russia and Belarus not to be displayed at any international sporting event.

The flag of Belarus was removed because officials of the Belarus Olympic Committee were accused of political discrimination against Belarusian athletes and the country’s involvement in Russia’s conflict with Ukraine.

The Russian flag has already been prohibited from international sporting events due to sanctions imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Despite the IOC banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the games on February 28, the IPC decided that athletes from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to participate under a neutral flag with their results not counting in the medal standings.

However, following criticism from the National Paralympic Committee, three days later it was announced that Russia and Belarus were banned from the games by the International Paralympics Committee.