CAS: Russians to compete in ski, snowboard Olympics qualifying events

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has cleared the way for Russian and Belarusian ski and snowboard athletes to compete under neutral status in qualifying competitions for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina.

The CAS said in a statement on Tuesday that it partially upheld two appeals against the ski and snowboard ruling body FIS and ruled that "Russian and Belarusian athletes who meet the International Olympic Committee (IOC) AIN (Individual Neutral Athlete) eligibility criteria should be allowed to participate in FIS qualification events."

The appeal was lodged by the Russian and Belarusian skiing ruling bodies together with athletes and para-athletes. Among them was Belarusian freestyle skier Hanna Huskova, who won aerials gold at Pyeongchang 2018.

FIS issued a resolution in October saying it wouldn't "facilitate the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) in FIS qualification events" for the Olympics and Paralympics in 2026.

Further requests to allow other athletes, support personnel and officials from Russia to participate in upcoming competitions were dismissed.

FIS said in a statement that it has acknowledged the CAS decision and that all affected athletes who are eligible to request for AIN status should contact the body.

"Athletes may only participate in competitions in the FIS Calendar in an individual and neutral capacity. This means that they cannot participate in competitions which are based on a classification by teams," FIS stressed.

The IOC allows athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete as individual neutral athletes, as at the Paris 2024 Games, but leaves it to each sport's international federation to decide whether to apply this in their qualifying events.

FIS, the world governing body for disciplines such as alpine skiing, ski jumping, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined, decided against doing so.

The background is Russia's war against Ukraine that has lasted for more than three years and has been assisted by Belarus.