• Special Olympics World Winter Games returns for first time since 2017 with coverage on ESPN+, ESPN3
• Kevin Negandhi, Jen Lada and Special Olympics athlete Daina Shilts to host Opening Ceremony for the first time on Disney+
• Best Of Special Olympics World Winter Games Turin 2025 airs April 6 on ABC and ESPN+

More than 1,500 athletes and Unified partners (athletes without intellectual disabilities) from 100 global delegations will compete in eight winter sports from March 8 – 15 in Turin, Italy as part of one of the largest inclusive sports events of the year—Special Olympics World Winter Games Turin 2025. The week will mark the first World Winter Games since 2017, with ESPN media platforms bringing coverage of the World Winter Games across the globe.

Coverage for the Games will begin with the World Games Opening Ceremony at Inalpi Arena on March 8 starting at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN+, ESPN3 and for the first time on Disney+. Kevin Negandhi, Jen Lada and Special Olympics athlete Daina Shilts will host, along with reporting in Turin from Victoria Arlen and Sam Borden.

As part of ESPN’s programming for Games, live event coverage for Figure Skating will air on March 12 beginning at 11:15 a.m. ET, March 13 at 11:30 a.m. ET, and March 14 at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN+ and ESPN3.

Live event coverage for Short Track Speed Skating will air March 13 through March 14 beginning at 3:30

a.m. ET each day on ESPN+ and ESPN3. Patrick Kinas and Olympic Silver Medalist Ben Agosto will lead live figure skating coverage, with Victoria Arlen providing athlete interviews. Jen Lada, Sam Borden, Victoria Arlen and Daina Shilts also will be reporting.

ESPN’s coverage will be rounded out with a Best Of Special Olympics World Games Turin 2025 program April 6 from 1 – 2 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN+, capturing and recapping the top moments from the World Games along with original multiple features and stories. Kevin Negandhi, Jen Lada, Sam Borden, Victoria Arlen and Daina Shilts will be reporting for the show.

ESPN’s relationship with Special Olympics spans more than 40 years. Since 2013 that relationship has deepened, with ESPN serving as the official global media partner for Special Olympics World Games and USA Games events in Los Angeles (2015), Austria (2017), Seattle (2018), Abu Dhabi (2019), Orlando (2022) and Berlin (2023), as well as the 50th Anniversary of Special Olympics in Chicago in 2018. Additionally, ESPN and Special Olympics have a long-standing alliance to use the power of sports to promote social inclusion and acceptance through support and sponsorship of Special Olympics Unified Sports®. Dedicated to promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition experiences, Unified Sports® brings athletes with and without intellectual disabilities on to the same team. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. Since 2013, ESPN has served as the Global Presenting Sponsor of Unified Sports® resulting in a 182 percent increase in Unified participants globally, bringing the number to over 1.8 million participants.