Nine athletes from Russia and Belarus have secured permission to participate in qualification events for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics after receiving neutral status from the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
The governing body announced on Wednesday that three Russian and six Belarusian competitors had been cleared to return to international competition for the first time since February 2022.
This development follows a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 2 December, which compelled FIS to begin processing applications for neutral athlete status.
The Winter Games are scheduled to commence on 6 February in Italy.
The 2026 Winter Olympics will see the return of several Russian and Belarusian athletes
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Among the most prominent names on the initial list is Hanna Huskova, the Belarusian freestyle skiing aerialist who claimed gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and added silver at Beijing four years later.
Russia’s Anastasia Tatalina, who secured the women’s Big Air world title in 2021 and finished fourth in freeski slopestyle at the 2022 Olympics, has also been granted clearance.
Cross-country skiers Savelii Korostelev and Dariya Nepryaeva complete the Russian contingent.
Korostelev, a two-time junior world champion from 2022, posted “debut this weekend” on social media, with World Cup races at Davos, Switzerland commencing on Thursday.
The FIS council had initially voted in October to extend the suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes for the entire 2025/26 season, barring them from competing as neutrals in Olympic qualification events.
However, the Russian Ski Association and Belarusian Ski Union mounted a legal challenge at CAS, joined by 17 individual athletes from both nations.
Anastasia Tatalina is one of Russia’s best skiers
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The sports tribunal partially upheld their appeals, determining that competitors should be permitted to participate in FIS qualification events provided they satisfy the International Olympic Committee’s criteria for neutral athlete status.
This ruling effectively forced the federation to reverse course and establish a pathway for applications.
Athletes seeking to compete as neutral individuals without national symbols must demonstrate they have not publicly expressed support for the war in Ukraine and possess no connections to military or state security agencies.
The Olympic rings on the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium used during the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games 2026, in Cortina, Italy | REUTERS
The Belarusian contingent includes freestyle skiers Anastasiya Andryianava, Anna Derugo, Ihar Drabiankou and Uladzislau Vazniuk, alongside alpine skier Maria Shkanova.
FIS indicated this represents merely the first wave of approvals.
“Over the course of the upcoming days and weeks, as more eligibility reviews are conducted and more decisions are made, FIS will publish updated versions of the AIN list,” the federation stated.
Russian athletes may yet encounter difficulties securing visas for certain host nations.
