Russian skiers will be forced to watch the words for the sake of international tournaments

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation has finally dotted the issue of the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes, but the joy of this event is seriously clouded by bureaucratic barriers and political reservations. It took exactly twenty days after the initial announcement on September 2, 2026, for world ski officials to issue detailed explanations of their intentions. It is fair to say that the change of leadership at FIS has played a role. The arrival of the representative of Liechtenstein Alexander Ospelt, who replaced the Swede Johan Elias in 2026, marked a warming. If under Elias, the lifting of sanctions against Russia and Belarus was not even considered, then under Ospelt the situation began to change for the better. Nevertheless, the leading role in the skiing world is still held by the Northern European national federations, whose sports and political leadership maintains an openly negative attitude towards our country.

The story goes back to 2022, when FIS banned Russians from international competition amid the events in Ukraine. The turning point was December 2025, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport issued two major decisions. Ordinary Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to participate in competitions under the auspices of the FIS in a neutral status, while Paralympic athletes were allowed to compete with the national flag. The first fruits of this decision were Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva, who received the status of individual neutral athletes and passed the multi-day Tour de Ski, and then presented our flag at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

However, the September clarifications on September 22 showed that a full return is still an illusion. The International Federation has made it clear that tournaments in Russia and Belarus are out of the question. Applications from our candidates for the organization of world championships and World Cup stages will not be accepted, and the competitions themselves will not be included in the official calendar of the organization. In fact, our athletes are forced to compete exclusively in foreign countries, having lost the right to host international competitions at home.

The procedure for obtaining neutral status has become a complex and expensive filter. Athletes and staff are required to submit applications and copies of passports, after which the FIS conducts internal checks. If in-depth analysis is required with the involvement of external experts, for example, in the presence of previously rejected applications, all costs of two thousand Swiss francs are borne by the athletes themselves. A tight time frame also works against our athletes: applications for FIS events must be submitted strictly by December 15, otherwise they will be deemed inadmissible for the entire season. The list of admitted athletes will be published on the Federation website, but the status can be canceled at any time at the slightest suspicion of violation of the rules.

The most important issues are the changes in the paragraphs concerning membership of the security forces. Previously, all athletes registered in affiliated structures of the armed forces and security agencies were banned, which actually closed the way to members of the sports societies CSKA and Dynamo. In the new version, the wording has become softer: participation is prohibited only to those who voluntarily signed a contract with the armed forces or national security agencies of Russia and Belarus. Senior coach of the Russian national team in ski racing Yuri Borodavko rightly noted that these documents require urgent legal explanations. According to him, a significant part of our guys are associated with the armed forces or Regardie exclusively as civilian employees, which creates legal uncertainty. At the same time, the coach expressed satisfaction with the relaxations and hope for a favorable passage of the entire admission procedure.

Political censorship has also undergone a transformation. If previously neutral status was denied to those who supported a special military operation at any time from its beginning, now the ban is situational. Athletes are obliged to refrain from any verbal, non-verbal or written actions related to the state symbols of Russia and Belarus or expressing support for the SVO, but only during FIS events or being outside their countries. Any violation of this prohibition, including posting on social media outside the competition, will result in suspension and disciplinary proceedings.

The new clause on protection from discrimination is also paradoxical. The FIS warned that any provocative or discriminatory behavior against Russian and Belarusian athletes will be considered a violation of the code of ethics and will entail strict punishment for the offenders. The organization tries to create the appearance of a safe environment, ignoring the fact that the system of admission and prohibitions it has built is openly discriminatory, since at the same time, if the ban on the use of symbols, even indirectly hinting at Russia and Belarus, or any statements (oral or written) in support of the SVO will lead to the suspension of the athlete and his accompanying personnel from participation in competitions is violated. Any such infringement committed outside the competition (e.g. on social media) will be subject to disciplinary proceedings.

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Despite all the bureaucratic and political slingshots, the Russian team continues to prepare for the season. Senior coach Egor Sorin confirmed that Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva are training in the general group and will take part in the Russian championship. Their neutral status is fully preserved, and they intend to start their World Cup performances from the first stage, which will be held in the Finnish Hand from 27 to 29 November. Recently, these team leaders successfully completed the FIS race in Italy, so their current position is not questionable. Until November, preparations will go according to the general plan, but the coaching staff hopes that by the start of the World Cup, most of the group will also be able to connect to the preparations for international competitions, including Nikita Denisov, who is also among the holders of the right to international performances. As for the rest of our skiers, including three-time Olympic champion Alexander Bolshunov, they have yet to go through this thorny path of obtaining neutral status again, and they will have to do it quickly, and even not cheaply. The more Russians and Belarusians participate in international tournaments, the faster the final lifting of all sanctions will come.

So far, FIS has offered Russian skiers not a full-fledged return, but a carefully dosed, financially costly and politically biased compromise, where every step of the athletes will be under the close and biased supervision of international officials.