The 14th Winter Paralympic Games brought together 611 athletes from 55 countries in Milano-Cortina, Italy, from March 6 to 15.
The Paralympics take place every four years immediately following the Olympics and are usually held in the same city as the Olympics.
At the 2026 Winter Paralympics, China racked up the most medals:15 gold,13 silver, and16 bronze to equal 44.
Team USA finished second with13 gold, five silver and six bronze medals, for a total of 24.
A high point for Team USA was winning Paralympic gold in sled hockey for a fifth straight time.
Team USA’s Paralympic sled hockey team finished with five wins and zero losses. They romped over Italy, 14-1, Germany, 13-0, China, 7-1, Czechia 6-1 in the semifinal, and Canada, 6-2 in the in the gold medal round. Although Team USA dominated the Paralympics, they still had a few rough bumps along the way.
When Team USA squared off against Italy in the first Paralympic preliminary round at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, Italy, Italy’s Christoph Depaoli scored 25 seconds after the game started. Because Italy was playing on home ice, almost everybody in the stands stood up and cheered.
“We weren’t going to let that one minute deter us from anything,” said Josh Pauls of Green Brook, N.J.
“Their goal got the crowd excited, so we stayed focused,” said Pauls, Captain of the USA’s men’s sled hockey team for a third straight time. He also played for Team USA when they won Paralympic gold five straight times.
Team USA went from trailing Italy 1-0 to a 14-1 lopsided victory.
The day before Team USA’s semifinal game against Czechia, this Able News writer interviewed Pauls by phone.
Sometimes when a team remains undefeated for several games, the players can become overconfident, complacent, and sometimes cocky.
“We would never let that happen to us,” said Pauls. “That wasn’t even an issue.”
They had no time to celebrate because their job wasn’t done yet.
In addition to captaining Team USA, Pauls was also a flag bearer at the 2026 Paralympics opening ceremony with U.S. six-time Paralympic alpine skier Laurie Stephens. To date, she has won two Paralympic gold medals, two Paralympic silver medals and six Paralympic bronze medals.
“It was a great honor to be a flag bearer, and to be picked not just from my sled hockey team but from other U.S. Paralympians,” said Pauls.
Pauls was born without a tibia in either leg. At ten months old, both of his legs were amputated. He refused to let that setback stop him from playing sled hockey nor doing anything that he wanted to do.
Pauls’s teammate three-time gold-medal winner Jack Wallace of Franklin Lakes, N. J. has his right leg amputated at age ten after a boating accident.
“It took years to adjust,” said Wallace in a phone interview with this writer. “I had to learn how to walk again and to use prosthetics, but I was determined to regain my mobility and go back to playing hockey.”
Ice hockey remained his favorite sport.
When the U.S. beat Canada 6-2 in the gold medal round, Wallace scored a hat trick — three goals.
A number of U.S. Paralympians came away with no medals but still greatly benefited from the experience such as para-alpine skier (standing) Kelsey O’Driscoll of Glens Falls, N.Y.
This was O’Driscoll’s first time competing in the Paralympics.
“It was a total blast,” said O’Driscoll.
O’Driscoll finished seventh in Super-G (Super Giant Slalom) standing, eighth in Super Combined – Standing, and ninth in Giant Slalom – Standing.
(In Para-alpine skiing, Super G combines the high speed of downhill skiing with the turning required in giant slalom. Super combined standing requires downhill speed along with technical skills. Giant Slalom – standing is a technical event for athletes with upper or lower limb impairments who ski standing, focusing on precision over speed.)
O’Driscoll sustained spinal fractures while sledding with family and friends at age 27 in 2021. Now neither of her legs have much feeling, and she lost some of her motor skills. However, O’Driscoll said that dealing with her asthma is harder than managing her spinal injuries.
“My asthma is less predictable,” said O’Driscoll. “I have no idea when it would flare up.”
O’Driscoll is a registered nurse, and she often cares for patients with asthma.
To learn more about Team USA and their 2026 Paralympic accomplishments, go to https://www.teamusa.com/milano-cortina-2026/paralympics/roster.