Russian and Belarusian skiers and snowboarders have effectively been stopped from competing in the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy, even as “neutral” athletes without flags, anthems or other symbols of their nationality.
That’s because the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, also known as FIS, has decided not to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in qualifying events ahead of the Olympics that begin next February.
A two-paragraph FIS statement says the Switzerland-based organization’s council voted Tuesday "not to facilitate the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) in FIS qualification events" for the next Winter Games.
The statement points out that although the International Olympic Committee recently announced an extension of the policy that allowed 32 Russians and Belarusians to compete in the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, it’s international sports federations that have the final say.
The IOC policy, FIS said, is “a possible pathway for athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in the Olympic Games, with each International Federation remaining responsible for the decision on whether to allow these athletes to take part in its existing qualification system.”
The “neutral” athlete policy was put in place by the IOC amid controversy, replacing an earlier call to bar Russian and Belarusian athlete participation in international events imposed after Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine with assistance from neighboring Belarus.
The Russian news agency TASS reported officials had been “cautiously optimistic” about the country’s skiers and snowboarders being able to compete in next year’s Olympics, blaming a threatened boycott by some European countries for the FIS vote, according to a translation.
“The powerful Scandinavian lobby issued an ultimatum stating that they would boycott the Olympic Games if Russians participated. Other countries joined them,” Yuri Borodavko, head coach of the Russian national cross-country skiing team, said.
The TASS report says the Russian Ski Association may soon challenge the FIS decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, citing an unnamed source.
It’s just days before alpine skiing’s first World Cup event of the season, Canada’s CBC reported, describing Russia as “one of the strongest nations in cross-country and a repeat medal-winner in snowboard slalom, ski jumping and freestyle” but not a power in alpine skiing.
Skiing and snowboarding events make up nearly half the medals to be awarded at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Other international federations over Winter Games sports have already determined whether Russians and Belarusians can compete in qualifying events.
Only the international federations over ice skating and the new sport of ski mountaineering are “allowing limited ‘neutral’ entries from Russia and Belarus” at qualifying events, the California-based Olympic news source, The Sports Examiner, reported.
The international federations over biathlon, bobsled and skeleton, curling, hockey and luge “have all decided not to allow Russian or Belarusian athletes to compete in qualifying events,” The Sports Examiner said, although the bobsled and skeleton decision has been appealed.