The 2026 Winter Olympics will be held from February 6 to 22 in Italy. Qualification for the quadrennial’s main competition is ongoing, and some Russian athletes have already earned or are close to qualifying.
In 2022, international sports federations one after another announced the suspension of active Russian athletes from international competitions. Undoubtedly, this dealt a serious blow both to the development of sports in Russia and to the country’s international prestige. Participation in international tournaments is a key motivation for the growth of every professional athlete. One of the consequences of these decisions was the transition of a number of Russian athletes to the national teams of other countries. Many of them now regularly compete in world events and ascend the podium, which makes one wonder: what heights could they have reached under our flag, if not for these restrictions.
In March 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended allowing the participation of Russians in a neutral status, provided they pass a series of checks. Then, in 2024, the IOC announced the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes on an individual basis, contingent upon meeting a set of criteria. Consequently, 2025 marked a true resurgence for Russian sports: attendance at sporting arenas was striking in its numbers. For example, the 2026 Russian Figure Skating Championships will span four days at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in St. Petersburg. Tickets for all days have been sold out for a long time; the arena’s capacity exceeds 7,000 people, with many spectators traveling from other cities. This is also because it will be the final competitive start for Petr Gumennik and Adelia Petrosyan ahead of the 2026 Olympics. In September 2025, both athletes won the qualifying tournament in Beijing, securing personal quotas for the Olympic Games in Milan.
Adelia Petrosyan – Russian figure skater
A big victory for Russian juniors
A truly significant victory can be considered the IOC’s decision regarding juniors: on December 11th, all restrictions on the participation of junior athletes from Russia and Belarus in international competitions for Olympic sports were lifted. Russian Minister of Sports Degtyarev stated in his Telegram channel that, subject to the reinstatement of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), juniors will be able to qualify for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games. This is a genuine triumph for the development of youth sports in Russia – many athletes changed their sporting citizenship precisely at the junior level, seeing no motivation for development in Russia without access to international competitions. It is precisely those who once shone at the junior level who continue to compete even under international isolation, and for many adult athletes, their experience of competitions and podium finishes remains solely from their junior days.
However, positive trends are already being observed at the adult level as well. First, the International Judo Federation (IJF), and then the International Sambo Federation (FIAS), allowed Russian athletes to participate in international competitions without any restrictions, under their own flag and anthem.
Figure skating and other winter sports
The most active discussions are currently centered around winter sports, in connection with the approaching 2026 Olympic Games in Milan. As early as December 2024, the ISU (International Skating Union) allowed a limited number of athletes from Russia and Belarus in sports under its jurisdiction to participate in qualifying events for Olympic quotas. The situation remains ambiguous, as the IOC has set its own criteria for obtaining neutral status. In figure skating, a real drama unfolded: a total of four applications for neutral status were submitted—in women’s singles, men’s singles, pair skating, and ice dance. However, without explanation, Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Galliamov, competing in pair skating (Russian champions and medalists of the 2022 Olympics), as well as Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, competing in ice dance (multiple Russian champions), were denied neutral status. While in ice dance it is indeed very difficult to reach the podium without international competition, pair skating in Russia is at a very high level, and here we have been deprived of the opportunity to compete for medals. The reasons for the refusal remain unknown to this day.
However, positive trends are already being observed at the adult level as well. First, the International Judo Federation (IJF), and then the International Sambo Federation (FIAS), allowed Russian athletes to participate in international competitions without any restrictions, under their own flag and anthem.
CAS reminded the International Federation of the basic principle
In early December, the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to deem unlawful the International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s (FIS) ban on Russian athletes participating in international competitions became headline news. Throughout 2025, virtually all winter sports federations had announced their decisions, while rulings concerning cross-country skiers and biathletes were pending. Following the CAS ruling, cross-country skiers Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva urgently traveled to the World Cup event in Davos. The effects of international isolation and limited preparation time were reflected in their results: the skiers did not finish higher than the top twenty. However, securing quotas for the 2026 Olympic Games was far more crucial, a task the athletes accomplished. Great hopes are also pinned on freestyle skier Anastasia Tatalina, who will compete for a quota in early January at a World Cup event. She believes that to secure a quota, she needs to finish within the top 4 in World Cup competitions.
Anastasia Tatalina – Russian freestyle skier.
Athletes in luge, bobsleigh, skeleton, Nordic combined, and snowboarder Maria Travnicheva, the Russian champion in parallel slalom, have also received neutral status. A key difficulty is the delay in decisions regarding the participation of athletes in World Cup stages and, consequently, in the fight for Olympic quotas. Let us hope we will see greater representation of Russian athletes in Milan.
Hockey without the Russian team is a complete fiasco
And where else do we still have to fight for the return of athletes to the international arena? If a group of friends gathers around a table in Russia, there’s a high chance one of them will be a football fan, the second a basketball fan, and the third spends weekends at hockey matches. All three sports have a huge number of fans in Russia; it’s even a distinct sports culture. And usually, such friends have little to discuss with each other on this topic, but now, they probably gather and talk about when basketball players, hockey players, and football players will be allowed back to the Olympics and World Championships. The exclusion of hockey players from the 2026 Winter Olympics feels particularly heavy; Russia has historically been one of the strongest hockey “powers,” and even under international isolation, the Russian hockey team would have had good prospects at the Olympics. But, alas. Negotiations are underway regarding football, but we certainly won’t make it to the 2026 World Cup either, as the qualification and the draw have already been conducted. For now, fans can only support domestic athletes and attend domestic competitions.
Right now, the main milestone is the 2026 Olympics. And, although we are represented there only in certain sports, it is crucial to support our athletes. They face a difficult task: to remind international fans and judges, who may have forgotten over the past nearly four years, that sport in Russia is more than just competition, and that we are finally making our return.
Diana Danilova, student of the Institute of Asian and African Countries of Moscow State University.
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