A closing ceremony boycotted by Ukraine signaled the end of the Milano-Cortina Winter Paralympics on Sunday, hours after the U.S. Para ice hockey team won the final gold medal of the Games that were marked by the return of the Russian flag and national anthem to the global sports stage.

China continued its dominance as a Paralympic powerhouse and topped the medals table with 15 golds, two more than the United States, which matched its total from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games.

The Milano-Cortina Games marked the 50th anniversary of the Winter Paralympics.

The Russian anthem, which hadn’t played at the Paralympics in more than a decade, rang out eight times at Milano Cortina after the victories of Russian athletes who were competing under their own flag again at the Paralympics for the first time since the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

Ukraine led the boycott of both the opening and closing ceremonies to protest the presence of the Russians. It accused the International Paralympic Committee of discrimination against its athletes throughout the Games. The IPC said Ukraine seemed to try to politicize the event.

The Milano-Cortina Paralympics began less than a week after the United States and Israel launched a military attack on Iran. Para cross-country skier Aboulfazl Khatibi, the only Iranian set to compete, had to withdraw because he could not travel safely to Italy. Para skier Sheina Vaspi was the only athlete from Israel who competed.

The Paralympic Games were back in Italy 20 years after being held in Turin. It was the 14th edition of the Winter Paralympics since the inaugural edition in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, in 1976.

Russia’s return

The Russian flag made its official return at the opening ceremony in Verona, and its national anthem was played for the first time at these Games after Para alpine skier Varvara Voronchikhina won gold last Monday.

The anthem had not been heard at any Olympics or Paralympics since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.

Russian athletes were back competing under their own flag in the Winter Paralympics after years of having to do so as neutral athletes because of the country’s doping violations and military conflicts.

The return of the Russian flag and anthem was seen by some as a signal of a possible full-fledged return to Olympic circles ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Chinese dominance

After topping every Summer Paralympics since 2004, China again finished first in the medals table at the Winter Paralympics. Russia was third with eight gold medals. The full medal table is available here.

China won 44 medals in total, 20 more than the Americans.

Host Italy ended in fourth place with seven gold medals, the same as Austria where siblings Veronika and Johannes Aigner dominated Para alpine skiing.

Para alpine skier Veronika Aigner was one of three athletes with four gold medals, along with American Para cross-country skiers Oksana Masters and Jake Adicoff. Masters, the most decorated American Winter Paralympian, won a bronze in addition to her four gold medals. Adicoff is the first out gay American male Winter Paralympic champion.

Canadians shine

Para nordic skiing star Natalie Wilkie led Canada with four medals — two golds and a silver in biathlon, along with bronze in cross-country. The Salmon Arm, B.C., native has 11 career Paralympic medals at just 25 years old.

She was named as one of Canada’s flag-bearers for the closing ceremony along with gold-medal winning wheelchair curler Mark Ideson.

Canada finished sixth overall with 15 medals — three gold, four silver, eight bronze. Canada’s Para nordic skiers accounted for seven medals.

Canada’s wheelchair curling team made history.

Ideson’s mixed rink, which also includes lead Collinda Joseph, second Ina Forrest, third/vice-skip Jon Thurston and alternate Gilbert Dash, became the first team ever to go 9-0 in the preliminary round.

They followed it up by completing a perfect tournament, edging South Korea and dethroning China for their fourth Paralympic title in the sport and first since 2014.

Canada is the only country to win a wheelchair curling medal at every Paralympics since the sport’s addition in 2006. They won the first three tournaments before claiming bronze in both 2018 and 2022.

The 63-year-old Forrest added to her record medal collection as the first wheelchair curler to compete at five Paralympics.

Record Games

Milano Cortina marked the biggest Winter Paralympics ever with a total of 611 Para athletes from 55 nations, surpassing the previous record of 564 Para athletes from 48 countries in 2018.

A record number of female Para athletes competed for the fourth straight Paralympic Winter Games, the IPC said. There were 160 female competitors at Milano Cortina, 24 more than the previous record at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

A total of 27 nations won medals across 79 medal events in six sports, the greatest number of countries to win at least one medal at a Paralympic Winter Games since the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

The IPC said Milano Cortina was the most widely broadcast Paralympic Winter Games in history with 20 media rights holders broadcasting the Games to a record 126 countries.

Curling stones

Even before the Milano Cortina Games began, curling was rocked by another scandal when two stones went missing at the Curling Olympic Stadium that hosted Sunday’s closing ceremony.

The incident came a couple of weeks after the sport was in the headlines during the Olympics as the Canadian team was accused of cheating.

Warm weather

The warm weather played a role at Milano Cortina, with high temperatures forcing organizers to change the schedule of some events. Athletes were seen competing in shorts, T-shirts and tank tops.

Heavy snow arrived only Sunday, and it prompted the delay of some races as well.

Next Games

The French Alps will host the 2030 Winter Paralympic Games.

IPC President Andrew Parsons said there are talks about adding more sports to those Games, including skating and sliding disciplines. He said there is also the possibility to add other disability groups such as intellectually impaired athletes.