The first Winter Paralympic Games were held in which country?

The first Winter Paralympic Games were held from 21 to 28 February 1976 at Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Athletes with physical disabilities competed in alpine skiing and cross-country skiing, and ice sledge racing was held as a demonstration event.

About the 1976 Winter Paralympics:

• Around 200 athletes from 16 countries took part.
• For the first time, athletes with amputations and visual impairments competed in Paralympic events, not just wheelchair users.
• West Germany topped the medal table.

Later milestones of the Winter Paralympics:

• 1988 Innsbruck (Austria) and 1992 Tignes-Albertville (France): the Winter Paralympics began to be held at or near the Winter Olympic venues.
• 1994 Lillehammer (Norway): sledge hockey (now called para ice hockey) was introduced.
• 2006 Turin (Italy): wheelchair curling was introduced.
• 2014 Sochi (Russia): para snowboard was added.
• 2022 Beijing (China): Beijing became the first city to host both the Summer (2008) and Winter (2022) Paralympics.
• 2026 Milan-Cortina (Italy): held in March 2026.
• Current Winter Paralympic sports: para alpine skiing, para biathlon, para cross-country skiing, para ice hockey, para snowboard and wheelchair curling.

The Summer Paralympics:

• The first Summer Paralympics were held in Rome in 1960.
• The Paralympic movement grew out of the Stoke Mandeville Games, started by Sir Ludwig Guttmann in England in 1948.
• The International Paralympic Committee (IPC), founded in 1989, is based in Bonn, Germany.

About the Winter Olympics:

The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924 at Chamonix, France.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Norway hosted the Winter Paralympics in 1980 (Geilo) and 1994 (Lillehammer).
• ✗Austria hosted them in 1984 and 1988 (Innsbruck).
• ✗Switzerland has not yet hosted the Winter Paralympics.