The International Ski and Snowboard Federation announced that its council rejected the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in the qualifiers for the upcoming Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. This decision was made in Oberhofen, Switzerland by the FIS council, effectively excluding Russian and Belarusian skiers and snowboarders from numerous events at the Games in February.
While the International Olympic Committee permits athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete as “Individual Neutral Athletes,” following a similar arrangement at the Paris Olympics last year, it is up to the respective international federations to determine if they will adopt this system for their qualifiers. FIS, having banned the national teams of Russia and Belarus since 2022, has chosen not to permit neutral athletes to participate.
This ruling by FIS also extends to Paralympic events under its jurisdiction, despite the recent restoration of Russia and Belarus to full membership by the International Paralympic Committee.
The timing of this decision, just days before the first alpine skiing World Cup event of the season, a women’s giant slalom in Austria, raises the potential for contention. While Russia may not be a dominant force in alpine skiing, it has shown strength in disciplines such as cross-country, snowboard slalom, ski jumping, and freestyle, consistently securing medals.
Allowing Russian athletes to compete as neutrals could have led to disagreements between FIS and the predominantly northern European nations hosting its World Cup competitions. The 2022 conflict between FIS and Norway regarding the participation of Russian skiers serves as a recent example of such tensions.
FIS, being the largest of the nine international sports federations overseeing Olympic sports, will award nearly half of the total medals in Milan-Cortina. With the absence of Russian representation in skiing events, the number of neutral athletes at the Games may be minimal.
While some governing bodies, including those for ice skating and ski mountaineering, have provided pathways for Russian athletes to qualify, bans remain in place for sports like hockey and biathlon. A few Russian and Belarusian athletes have already qualified as neutrals in various disciplines, indicating the limited presence of neutral competitors compared to previous Games.
