As the world’s top adaptive winter athletes gather in northern Italy for the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games, Oregon has emerged as a quiet but proud contributor to Team USA’s presence on the global stage. Two athletes with deep ties to the state, Anna Soens of Bend and Ravi Drugan of Eugene, are competing in the alpine skiing events at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, bringing attention to Oregon’s growing influence in adaptive sports.
The Paralympic Games officially opened in early March across several historic winter sport venues in Italy, including the legendary alpine slopes of Cortina d’Ampezzo. The international event features more than six hundred athletes from dozens of nations competing across multiple winter sports, including alpine skiing, snowboarding, biathlon, cross country skiing, wheelchair curling, and para ice hockey. The competition represents the highest level of international sport for athletes with physical disabilities and is widely recognized as one of the most inspiring showcases of athletic determination in the world.
Among those athletes are two competitors whose journeys to the Paralympic stage began far from the European Alps…