Winter Paralympics 2026: Meet Fukunishi Akari, the only female Para ice hockey player competing at Milano Cortina 2026

Fukunishi Akari is part of a special Paralympic club.

The Japanese Para ice hockey player’s participation at Milano Cortina 2026 is particularly significant, as she is the only female athlete in the mixed team competition, consisting of eight nations.

Fukunishi is the fourth woman to compete in Paralympic Para ice hockey, following Britt Mjaasund Øyen (for Norway at Lillehammer 1994), Lena Schrøder (Norway, PyeongChang 2018), and Yu Jing (People’s Republic of China, Beijing 2022).

There could have been a fifth player in Michaela Hozáková, but the Slovakian was only a substitute who did not travel with her team. For Fukunishi, her presence is a step in the right direction to add to the sport’s female legacy.

“I know that it means a lot for me to participate in the competition,” Fukunishi tells Olympics.com in Japanese. “So I tried to do my best and focus on my performance in every minute and second."

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Milano Cortina 2026 – Fukunishi Akari’s 15-month journey to the Paralympics

At 35 years old, and within two years of beginning her Para ice hockey career, Fukunishi is now a trailblazing Paralympian at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Playing at Milano Cortina in March is special for Fukunishi for two reasons. It is exactly five years to the month since she sustained a lower limb disability in a motorcycle accident, while it also marks International Women’s Day (8 March).

As a former ice hockey player who retired before her injury, the Tokyo native tried out Para ice hockey in December 2024. “I thought that I might be able to play ice hockey again, so I decided to aim for these Paralympics,” she explains.

Within eight months, she was competing at the World Championships in Dolný Kubín, Slovakia. It was the first edition of the tournament in women’s Para ice hockey, won by the USA in August 2025.

Japan did not yet have a women’s team, so Fukunishi competed as part of Team World, comprising athletes from nine nations without their own national team. The forward emerged as the team’s top scorer with five points in three games.

Fukunishi had the chance to meet one of the sport’s Paralympic pioneers and one of her inspirations at the tournament. “I am inspired by Lena [Schrøder], she really impressed me,” she says. “I met her at the last World Championships in Slovakia, and we had a little chat.”

Of the 18-player Japanese squad at Milano Cortina 2026, Fukunishi stands out as the only woman. She credits her ‘hockey IQ’ in helping hold her own on the ice, admitting, “There are physical differences that you can't overcome, that is the hardest problem.”

The forward continues, “It was very difficult to figure out how to live in this world. I always think, ‘How can I solve this problem? How can I survive?’ But it's tough.

“The male players are obviously quicker, so the key is to anticipate how they will move. I try to stay ahead by predicting my opponent’s next one, two, or even three moves to make up for my slower speed.”

Milano Cortina 2026 – Fukunishi, aiming to lead Japan at French Alps 2030

Now that Fukunishi has reached the Paralympic stage in the Japanese mixed team, the natural next step is to bring a women’s team to the Paralympic Winter Games.

World Para Ice Hockey, the sport’s governing body, have set out a plan to have a women’s competition at the next Winter Paralympics, four years from now, in France.

The road to French Alps 2030 is ongoing, since the formal process for a women's event was initiated in 2022, but many more targets remain: eight nations from three global regions must have women’s Para ice hockey programmes, and there must be two editions of the World Championships.

Speaking at a press conference earlier at the Games, Fukunishi said: “At the World Championships, I received several enquiries from female athletes. From this opportunity at the Paralympic Games, I expect more Japanese female players to start Para ice hockey. I hope to come back in 2030 as a member of a Japan female team.”

Among the other nations that have begun the path to inaugurating Para ice hockey are India, Mexico, and Kazakhstan. The People’s Republic of China, building off the momentum of Beijing 2022 when they won mixed team bronze, are also interested.

There is also strong motivation to hold a World Championships later this year, though there is no secured host as of yet, there is strong intention to have women’s Para ice hockey on the Paralympic programme within the next few years.

If that goal is achieved in the near future, Fukunishi will be firmly placed as one of the sport’s trailblazers, alongside countless other women who have fought for the sport to make it to the Winter Paralympics.

Japan finished fourth out of four teams in their preliminary round group at Milano Cortina 2026, and following a defeat to hosts Italy, will contest the 7-8 classification game on Saturday (14 March).

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