IWD: Celebrating Australia’s female Paralympians for 2026

Women have long been under-represented in sport.

But as we have seen with recent successes like the Matildas, when the nation gets behind our female athletes, there’s no stopping them from reaching new heights and dazzling us with their super-sporting skills.

This year’s International Women’s Day* theme is “Balance the Scales” – and as equal opportunity advocates worldwide rally on March 8 on behalf of women and girls, we take a look at the upcoming Winter Paralympic Games.

Not only do our female athletes competing at the Paralympics have to face down the long history of uneven representation of women in the world of competitive sport, they also face several other challenges.

Compared to much of Europe and North America, Australia is a hot climate country – which makes it much harder to train to be an elite winter athlete.

On the flip side of the coin, our most successful summer Olympic athletes can expect to enjoy the kind of public profile that can become a lucrative second act.

But our Aussie athletes competing in the Winter Paralympics don’t receive anywhere near the same level of attention or funding* as other professional athletes competing on the Olympic stage.

Yet many have overcome physical and emotional traumas and learnt to navigate life with a disability while striving to achieve sporting greatness.

Despite the complex challenges faced by many of our male and female Paralympians, six female athletes, including one guide*, will be competing at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Games.

The 2026 team include Australia’s first Indigenous Winter Paralympian and Australia’s youngest female Winter Paralympian.

So to celebrate this IWD, let’s take a look at the incredible female athletes who have risen above adversity* to reach the top of their game and represent their country on the greatest sporting stage on Earth: the Olympic Games.

Amanda Reid
Australia’s first Indigenous athlete to compete at a Paralympic Games, Amanda Reid is a rare talent. Competing as both a Winter and Summer Paralympian, Reid has won gold medals at the Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympic Games for para-cycling and will be competing at Milano Cortina in the para-snowboard events. Currently living in Adelaide, the 30-year-old with Cerebral Palsy* almost started her sporting career as a swimmer but started competing in cycling in 2015, before adding snowboarding to the mix in 2022.

Lauren Parker
Another woman of many talents, Lauren Parker has overcome a life-changing accident to reach Paralympic greatness. The 37-year-old from Cooranbong in NSW became a paraplegic* after she was thrown from her bike while travelling at 40km/hr when she was training for the 2017 Ironman Australia Triathlon.

Faced with being unable to move her legs and lower body for the rest of her life, she decided she would reach para-triathlon greatness. That she did, winning gold at Paris 2024 in both the PTWC triathlon and the cycling road race H1-4, as well as silver in the cycling time trial H1-3.

Parker will be competing in the Winter Paralympic Games in para cross-country skiing and para-biathlon*.

Liana France
At just 16 and 211 days when the Games open, Liana France is set to become Australia’s youngest ever female winter Paralympian. She will also possibly be the first Paralympian to be inspired by Peppa Pig.

According to her Paralympics Australia bio, when Liana was two years old she watched the episode “Snowy Mountain” in which Madam Gazelle shows Peppa and her classmates how to ski. Liana was so enchanted that she asked her parents to take her to the snow for her birthday.

She took skiing lessons and had reached the race club by the age of nine.

“At the bottom of the junior workshop skills checklist for black runs it said, ‘See you at the Olympics’,” Liana said. “Ever since, I wanted to complete the checklist and go to the Olympics for skiing.”

Liana was left with a limb impairment* at the age of 13 after a vehicle accident. The Year 10 student’s goal switched from Olympics to Paralympics and now here she is, about to compete in para-alpine skiing wearing the green and gold for her country.

Georgia Gunew
The 22 year old from Gumdale in Queensland loved skiing growing up but liked to compete in hockey. However, a genetic condition known as Stargardt’s macular dystrophy* led to vision loss during her teenage years and she had to hang up her hockey stick for good.

She found her way back into skiing, winning her first medal on the World Cup circuit, in the slalom*. She won another two medals, in slalom and giant slalom, in the 2024-25 season, making it into the Australian team for Milano Cortina.

Gunew trusts her sighted guide Ethan Jackson to direct her down slopes while travelling at speeds upwards of 100km/hr.

She will be competing in the para alpine skiing events: women’s giant slalom VI and women’s slalom VI.

Taryn Dickens
Australia’s oldest female Winter Paralympian, Taryn Dickens will make her winter debut at the Milano Cortina games in para cross country skiing and para biathlon. The 43-year-old was once a Seaman in the Royal Australian Navy but started to experience degenerative* vision loss in her mid-30s. According to Paralympics Australia, once she received a diagnosis, she said to the doctor, “That means I could compete at the Paralympics.”

The doctor reportedly replied, “That’s not the reaction I usually get.”

Through her international classification* B3, Dickens will be competing alongside her sighted guide Lynn Cullen.

“It would mean so much to be a part of the team,” Dickens said. “To know that I have worked so hard to make it to the highest level I can in a sport, it would mean I could look people in the eye and say, ‘You can do it’.”

Let’s go, Australia – and let’s all play our part to help Balance the Scales this International Women’s Day.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• International Women’s Day: a global day celebrating the achievements of women while calling for better gender equality across the world that is celebrated each year on March 8
• funding: money to pay for the costs involved in attending the Games
• guide: a sighted athlete who competes alongside vision impaired athletes. A guide acts as the competing athlete’s eyes by helping them safely navigate the course
• adversity: difficult or challenging times
• Cerebral Palsy: a brain disorder that appears in infancy or early childhood that permanently affects body movement and posture
• paraplegic: a person who can no longer move their lower body and legs
• Para Biathlon: a sport that combines cross country skiing and rifle shooting for Paralympic athletes
• limb impairment: significant loss, damage or abnormality in the structure or function of an arm or leg
• Stargardt’s macular dystrophy: a genetic eye disease that causes you to lose central vision
• slalom: skiing on a course in and out of flags
• degenerative: getting progressively worse and irreversible over time
• international classification: a system that groups athletes into classes based on their functional limits in order to create an even playing field

EXTRA READING
Winter Olympics: week 2 highlights
Matildas win first Asian Cup match
How the Paralympics became a world sporting spectacular

QUICK QUIZ
1. What sport does Liana France compete in?
2. How did Lauren Parker become a paraplegic?
3. What did Amanda Reid win gold medals for?
4. Who is Australia’s youngest ever female Paralympian?
5. Who is Australia’s oldest female Paralympian?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
Summarise the article
A summary is a brief statement of the main points of something. It does not usually include extra detail or elaborate on the main points.

Use the 5W & H model to help you find the key points of this article. Read the article carefully to locate who and what this article is about, and where, when, why and how this is happening. Once you have located this information in the article, use it to write a paragraph that summarises the article.

Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science

VCOP ACTIVITY
Girls in sport
There are many sports in which we’re seeing an increase in female participants. What sports have you noticed, or maybe joined yourself, where you have seen an increase in the number of girls now playing? How do you feel about this? Why do you feel this way? Do you think it’s a positive shift? Why/why not?

Use your VCOP to express how you feel towards girls taking up more sporting roles. Explain why you feel this way. Use your emotive language to express your point of view.