France, March 17 -- Thousands of fans are expected to gather at Chamrousse 1650 ski station in south-eastern France for a day-long festival of DJ sets and workshops on winter sports such as biathlon, ice hockey, tandem ski and dualski.

There will also be the formal welcome for the Paralympic flag.

It was handed over to the organisers of the next paralympic Winter Games in the French Alps on Sunday night at the closing ceremony of the 2026 Games at the Cortina Curling Centre.

Amid a back-drop of war in the Middle East and Russia's offensive in Ukraine, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) chief Andrew Parsons told the assembled Paralympians: "You have risen above pressure, expectation and global tension to keep the focus where ...