German Paralympic skiers turn their backs as Russian anthem plays in Italy

German cross-country skier Linn Kazmaier and her sighted guide Florian Baumann turned their backs on Russia's gold medallists and kept their distance throughout the medal ceremony Wednesday at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics, staging one of the most visible protests yet against the International Paralympic Committee's decision to readmit Russian athletes to competition under their own flag.

As the Russian national anthem played at the Tesero venue in northern Italy, Kazmaier and Baumann stood with their backs turned toward gold medallists Anastasiia Bagiian and her guide Sergei Siniakin, who had won the visually impaired cross-country skiing event. The Germans kept their hats on, looked away as the Russian flag was raised, kept their distance during podium photographs, and declined to take a customary victory selfie with their Russian counterparts.

Kazmaier, speaking to the German newspaper Bild, described the moment as deeply conflicted. "The medal ceremony felt completely strange. I don't know the Russians, I don't know if perhaps they also support the system in Russia as little as we do," she said. "Perhaps they are really nice people, who we could be friends with. That it is so totally overshadowed by politics is simply a complete shame. That's why we decided to leave our hats on and not turn towards the flag, because we do not support it."

The podium protest was part of a coordinated stance by Germany's Paralympic delegation. The German Disabled Sports Association said the team had collectively decided not to participate in the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony in Verona, a decision it framed as both a sporting and moral choice. "This decision serves to focus on the upcoming competitions and respectfully express solidarity with the Ukrainian delegation," the association said in a statement. "The team is combining its focus on sporting results with a clear, value-based position."

The German National Paralympic Committee described Kazmaier and Baumann's podium gesture as "an expression of solidarity with their friends, the Ukrainian athletes." Germany's Minister of State for Sport and Volunteering, Christiane Schenderlein, also announced she would skip the opening ceremony in protest. Seven countries in total, including Ukraine, boycotted the Verona parade.

The underlying grievance is the IPC's decision, announced last September, to lift its suspension of Russia and Belarus and allow a combined ten athletes, six Russian and four Belarusian, to compete under their national flags at Milan-Cortina. It marks the first time Russian athletes have competed under their own flag at a Paralympics since the 2014 Sochi Games, a consequence of sanctions that followed a state-sponsored doping scandal and were deepened after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russia had already won a gold earlier in the Games, when para-alpine skier Varvara Voronchikhina took the top step of the podium on Monday. That ceremony passed without visible protest. Wednesday's gesture by Kazmaier and Baumann, silver medallists on the same day Russia claimed another gold, drew immediate international attention and crystallized the tension that has hung over these Games since before the opening ceremony.

The IPC has not publicly commented on the podium protest. Ukraine's Paralympic delegation had previously called on the international community to boycott the Games entirely over Russia's inclusion.