501 torchbearers, five flames united in Cortina, and a Roman arena opening the Winter Paralympics
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The Olympic flame begins at Olympia. The Paralympic flame begins at Stoke Mandeville, the English hospital village where Dr. Ludwig Guttmann's wheelchair athletes competed in 1948 and started the movement.
On February 24, 2026, the Milano Cortina Paralympic Flame was created there in a Heritage ceremony, then began an eleven-day journey to Italy. By the time it reached the Arena di Verona on March 6, it had traveled more than 2,000 kilometers in the hands of 501 torchbearers. (Why the Paralympic flame has its own identity.)
The 2026 relay used several flames instead of one. Flame Festivals burned in different communities, and Flame Visits carried the fire to cities far from the Alpine venues: Rome on February 26, Bari on February 27, Naples on March 2, Bologna on March 3.
On March 3 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, the five flames converged in a Union Ceremony and became a single Paralympic Flame. The next day the flame reached Venice, and on March 6 the Winter Paralympics opened at the Arena di Verona, a Roman arena two thousand years old. It was the first time a UNESCO World Heritage site hosted a Paralympic opening ceremony.
Milano Cortina ran its Paralympic relay with its own birthplace, route logic, symbols and audience, separate from the Olympic one. (The Olympic relay before it ran 63 days.)
Los Angeles hosts its first Paralympic Games in 2028. LA28 has confirmed a 50-state Olympic torch relay starting in Atlanta, and the first outline of its Paralympic relay: the flame will originate at Stoke Mandeville and travel after the Olympic Games close in August 2028, with its US starting point still to be announced. If LA follows the 2026 model, expect an American route with its own character, with Paralympians and everyday carriers sharing the fire.
The 501 torchbearers of the 2026 Paralympic relay included athletes, advocates, and ordinary people whose communities put them forward. Every relay picks people that way, and it's what I'm counting on: show up for your city, tell the story in public, and be ready when selection opens in 2027.
When the Olympic and Paralympic flames reach Los Angeles in 2028, I want to have carried one for a mile. If you'd back me, add your name to the nomination wall.