The Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) announced this Tuesday (27) the first call-up list of athletes who will compete in the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics (Italy), starting on March 6. Cristian Ribera from Rondônia and Aline Rocha from Paraná – current world champion and runner-up, respectively – head the list of cross-country skiing athletes, which also includes Wellington da Silva and Elena Sena from São Paulo, both making their debut at the Games. In snowboarding, the representative will be André Barbieri from Rio Grande do Sul.
The five athletes listed met the criteria pre-established by the Brazilian Snow Sports Confederation (CBDN), in partnership with CPB. The second and final call for athletes will be on February 3, with two more names, totaling seven competitors. It is the largest number of representatives from Brazil since the last edition (Beijing 2022) – at the time there were six.
Aline Rocha and Cristian Ribera will compete in the third Paralympics of their careers in Italy. The skier was the first Brazilian to compete in the Winter Games, in the PyeongChang (South Korea) edition, in 2018. Four years later, in Beijing (China), Aline obtained seventh place, her best result so far, in the long race (15 kilometers), in cross-country skiing,
Cristian Ribera debuted at just 15 years old in PyeongChang 2018, immediately taking sixth place, Brazil’s best record in cross-country skiing at both the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. At Beijing 2022, Ribera finished in ninth place.
In snowboarding, André Barbieri from Rio Grande do Sul will represent the country for the second time. He debuted at Beijing 2022, where he competed in the cross and banked slalom events, finishing 13th in both.
About to make their debut at the Milan-Cortina Paralympics, skiers Wellington da Silva, 19, and Elena Sena, 22, achieved good continental results in the last preparation cycle. In 2023, Elena was champion in the sprint race of the Norwegian Continental Cup) and, in the same race, Wellington took silver. Both also shone in the Continental Cup in Argentina, in Ushuaia. He won gold and she silver in four events (sprint, 5km, 10km and 20km).
