Winter Paralympics 2026: Jack Wallace feeling no pressure in Para ice hockey threepeat bid - with eyes on LA28 home Games

Pressure? What pressure, responds double Paralympic champion Jack Wallace.

The Para ice hockey player arrives at Milano Cortina 2026 as part of a USA side that has dominated the sport this century. They have won five of the six Paralympic golds since 2002, with Wallace playing a part in two of those victories.

Expectations are soaring for Team USA to clinch a fifth consecutive gold, while the New Jersey native is aiming for a third gold of his own. He has been there and done that, something the defender knows is a vital advantage for the reigning champions.

“I honestly don't feel too much pressure,” Wallace told Olympics.com ahead of the third Paralympic Winter Games of his career. “I put a lot of pressure on myself for Beijing [2022], and I just don't feel the same way.

“I think it's how confident I am in our team and the great group of guys that we have, having that confidence that we've been there before. Everyone knows the work that we have to put into it, and I know the guys we have are willing to do it again.”

Wallace enjoyed a memorable time at the previous Paralympics in the People’s Republic of China, and was named the tournament’s best defenseman. He will surely enjoy the moment returning to the ice as a back-to-back defending champion himself.

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Milano Cortina 2026 – Jack Wallace part of the USA’s blossoming ice hockey scene

Team USA take to the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena with the goal of completing a hat-trick of wins for the Stars and Stripes. Both the men’s and women’s ice hockey teams won gold in the weeks gone by at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, at the same venue no less.

The joint success in sight for the national players would build nicely on last year, where all four teams won world championship gold: the men’s ice hockey team, women’s ice hockey team, men’s Para ice hockey team and women’s Para ice hockey team.

“That was a very cool moment to be a part of and see how much hockey has grown in [the USA],” said Wallace. “Having two gold medals in the bank is obviously special. It's that subtle reminder of, ‘You've been there, you can do it again. You know what it takes to get there.’

“I've been on the team almost 10 years now, so I know what it takes. I know what I have to do. I know the commitment, the pain, the sweat and the tears. I am getting ready to do that all over again.”

The USA know that, should everything go to plan, a gold medal showdown with rivals Canada is the most probable final hurdle. The previous two Paralympic finals were all-North American matchups, and on both occasions, the United States took gold.

Wallace explained: “I've only ever played Canada in all our gold medal games. Every tournament, every Paralympics, every World Cup, we've only played Canada in the gold medal games. So we know them really well. We're most likely going to meet them again in the gold medal game in Milan.”

The 27-year-old was pivotal to Team USA in their 5-0 shutout in the Beijing gold medal game. He has enjoyed success outside of sport too, graduating with a university degree in Biomedical Engineering while living by his personal mantra: ‘Get out what you put in’.

Milano Cortina 2026 – Wallace aims for dual-sport Paralympic status within two years

Wallace is not only an accomplished Para ice hockey player, but he also excels in Para canoe, perfect for the required core strength and endurance to thrive on the ice. Those training benefits were why he initially picked up the sport in 2019, and it almost brought him to the Summer Paralympic Games at Paris 2024.

Unfortunately, he encountered the ultimate adversity of being a dual athlete. The world championships for Para ice hockey and Para canoe fell on the same weekend - 8,209km (5,100 miles) apart - the latter providing a direct qualifying path to the Paralympics.

“I had to compete in hockey, fly from Calgary, fly to Hungary for three days and try and qualify for Paris and then fly back,” Wallace recalled. “The chances were definitely not in my favour going into Paris, but I missed out by eight thousandths of a second on qualifying.”

Nonetheless, the double Paralympic champion has become a stronger player on the ice thanks to his ability in the canoe. Wallace overcame adversity just to be back in the water, after a boating accident while water skiing led to his right leg being amputated above the knee at the age of 10.

Wallace explained: “There's way more emphasis on the power and explosiveness that you need in hockey. So it's made me a little bit faster on the ice, but also the mental aspect of trying to compete as an individual athlete, the accountability you need to be able to compete on the world stage as individuals versus a team sport.”

For now, the defenseman is fully focused on Milano Cortina 2026. That does not mean that LA 2028 is not on his mind, with the prospect of becoming a dual Paralympian on home soil tempting the man who will be 30 by the time of the U.S. Games.

“The focus right now is on Milan. But looking forward, I will definitely be making another big push to try and qualify for the LA 2028 Summer Games,” he said. “It goes along with the Paralympic Movement really well, because you can get so involved in as many different sports as you want.

“If you're a kid, you have a physical disability and you want to do adaptive sports, you don't just have to do one. You can really find what you're passionate about and test your athleticism. Just because you're a para athlete, [it] does not mean that you can't push the boundaries wherever you want.”

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