‘Russians and Belarusians should compete in Winter Olympic qualifiers’

The Court of Arbitration for Sport recommends that athletes from Russia and Belarus be permitted to compete in qualifying events for the upcoming Winter Olympics if they meet the requirements for neutral athletes.

Russian and Belarusians who participated in the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) qualification events for the Games in Milan and Cortina, which will begin on February 6th, were disqualified in October.

Russian Ski Federation (RSF), Belarusian Ski Union (BSU), and 17 other ski nations filed an appeal with Cas.

Cas claimed that the appeals were partially upheld.

The BSU’s requests to establish and apply AIN criteria were rejected because they are still within the FIS’s purview.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports have been barred from a variety of sports.

The IOC announced in September that neutral athletes could compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics in the same circumstances as they did the 2024 Paris Games, but that individual sports federations would make the final decision.

On the condition that they didn’t use their country’s flags, emblems, or anthems, 15 neutral Russians and 17 neutral Belarusians accepted the invitation to compete in Paris last year.

The IOC has approved the participation of three figure skaters from their respective nations, making them the first athletes from their respective nations to be invited to the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Russians and Belarusians could compete under their own flag at the Paralympics and World Para-sport events as a result of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC)’s (IPC) vote in September.