Like the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF) set high ambitions for the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, whose opening ceremony is taking place on Friday, March 6, in the Verona Arena. Four years earlier, in Beijing, the French team won 12 medals, including seven gold, finishing fourth in the nation’s ranking behind the host country, Ukraine and Canada.
In Italy, the French team aims to match or even surpass that achievement. “The goal is to get at least 18 medals, including seven titles,” explained Jean Minier, CPSF sports director and deputy head of the delegation. “This objective is based on our athletes’ results in recent competitions, and it would allow us to maintain fourth place.”
However, this ambition could be thwarted by the return of Russia and Belarus. Athletes from these countries had been excluded from the previous Paralympic Games after Russian troops, with Belarus’ support, launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The six Russian and four Belarusian athletes competing in Italy are this time participating under their national flags, with their anthems and symbols.
This decision led Ukraine and several other nations to announce a boycott of the opening ceremony. The French delegation, however, chose to attend. “Even though we do not agree with this decision, we have chosen to respect it because it was made democratically,” said CPSF president Marie-Amรฉlie Le Fur by way of explanation.
‘Podium potential athletes’
In 2022, the French team included 19 members โ 15 athletes and four guides. This year, the group is smaller, with 17 people (13 athletes and four guides) competing in four of the six disciplines: para biathlon and para cross-country skiing, with events held in Val di Fiemme, and para alpine skiing and para snowboard, in Cortina d’Ampezzo. France is not represented in para ice hockey or wheelchair curling.
Nearly half of those selected (43%) have already stood on the Paralympic podium, the CPSF noted, describing this delegation as “streamlined but ambitious.” “We have a very small team, but it is mainly made up of athletes with real podium potential,” said Marie Bochet, 100 days before the start of the event. At 32, the eight-time Paralympic alpine skiing champion serves as head of mission for the 2026 Winter Paralympics.
Four French athletes have even arrived in Italy as reigning Paralympic champions: alpine skier Arthur Bauchet (downhill, slalom and super combined), Nordic skier Benjamin Daviet (1.5 km sprint and 12.5 km biathlon) and snowboarders Cรฉcile Hernandez (cross) and Maxime Montaggioni (banked slalom).
Para alpine skiing is where France has the most entrants, with eight competitors spread across the three categories: standing, sitting and visually impaired. The greatest hopes for medals rest on Bauchet’s shoulders. At 25, the native of Saint-Tropez, who has suffered since childhood from spastic paraparesis, a rare genetic disorder that causes tremors, already has an impressive track record, with 12 world championship titles and eight Paralympic medals. For his third Games, he is aiming for gold in the five possible races in the standing category (downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined).
Gender imbalance
Alongside him, Jules Segers, 23; Oscar Burnham, 26; and Aurรฉlie Richard, 20, will be trying to reach a podium for the first time. The youngest member of the French delegation, Richard โ third overall in the 2025 World Cup standings โ is also the only woman on the alpine skiing team. “This is an imbalance we see a bit too often, and it costs us in potential medals,” noted Minier.
Billed as the “hope of French cross-country skiing and biathlon,” 22-year-old Karl Tabouret is making his Paralympic debut in Italy and is already highly anticipated. Crowned world champion in the classic sprint and silver medalist in the 10 km classic in 2025, he is competing in the standing category alongside Daviet. The French team will also rely on Nordic skier Anthony Chalenรงon, 35, and his guide Florian Michelon, who will take part in the mixed 4 ร 2.5 km relay and the 20 km freestyle.
Para snowboarding offers another source of potential medals. While Montaggioni will defend his banked slalom title, as will Hernandez in snowboard cross, the challenge looks greater for the former. “The competition has stepped up a notch,” acknowledged Minier. “His main goal will be to secure a podium finish. As for Cรฉcile, she will be going for gold.”
At 51, the oldest member of the team and competing in her final Paralympic Games, Hernandez was named flag bearer alongside alpine skier Jordan Broisin. However, neither of them are going to the Verona Arena for the opening ceremony. The venue is too far from the competition sites, where the French team will begin competing on Saturday.
The French delegation at the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games
Para alpine skiing: Arthur Bauchet, Lou Braz-Dagand, Jordan Broisin, Oscar Burnham, Hyacinthe Deleplace, Victor Pierrel, Aurรฉlie Richard, Jules Segers.
Para Nordic skiing: Anthony Chalenรงon, Benjamin Daviet, Karl Tabouret.
Para snowboarding: Cรฉcile Hernandez, Maxime Montaggioni.