Russian and Belarusian Skiers Approved to Compete in 2026 Winter Games Qualifying Events
Three Russian and six Belarusian skiers, including former Olympic and world champions, have been granted neutral athlete status to compete in qualifying events for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) announced the decision, which allows the athletes to participate in competitions without representing their countries.
FILE – Anastasia Tatalina, of the Russian Olympic Committee, reacts during the women’s slopestyle finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
Return to Competition
The approved athletes, including former world junior cross-country ski champion Savelii Korostelev, may return to competition as early as this weekend at Davos in Switzerland. Korostelev posted on social media that he will make his debut this weekend. The FIS decision marks the first time Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete in international events since February 2022, when they were excluded due to the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.
The FIS stated that the athletes were granted neutral status after meeting the necessary criteria, which includes not having publicly supported the war and not having ties to military or state security agencies. The athletes will compete without any national symbols or representation.
Title-Winning Athletes
Among the approved athletes are several title-winning skiers, including freestyle skier Hanna Huskova, who won gold in women’s aerials for Belarus at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and silver four years later in Beijing. Anastasia Tatalina, a Big Air world champion for Russia in 2021, also received neutral status, as did Russian cross-country skiers Korostelev and Dariya Nepryaeva.
The Russian ski federation and athletes won a ruling last week at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which forced the FIS to start processing applications for neutral status. However, the athletes may still face challenges obtaining visas to enter countries hosting qualifying events.
Path to the 2026 Winter Games
The approved athletes will still need to pass a further level of International Olympic Committee (IOC) vetting before being invited to the 2026 Winter Games, which open on February 6. The IOC has enforced guidelines that exclude Russian athletes from team events, and athletes competing as neutral individuals must meet strict criteria.
The FIS stated that more decisions on neutral athletes will be made in the upcoming days and weeks. The eventual group of Russian athletes competing in Italy in February is likely to be significantly smaller than the over 200 who participated in the Beijing Winter Games, where they won 32 medals, including five gold.
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