Chance at the 2026 Olympics
After the verdict: Belarusian Olympic champion takes part in qualification
12/10/2025 – 12:48 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Russian and Belarusian skiers are allowed to take part in the Olympic qualification. Now there are the first names. There is also an Olympic champion.
The International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld complaints from Belarus and Russia against the exclusion from Olympic qualifications. As a result, the World Ski and Snowboard Association Fis admitted nine athletes as neutral participants. They are now allowed to take part in the qualifying competitions for the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The admitted athletes include Belarusian ski freestyler Hanna Huskova, who became Olympic champion in jumping in 2018 and won silver in 2022. In addition to Huskova, there are five other Belarusian athletes on the list, including four aerials freestylers. A cross-country skier, a cross-country skier and the ski freestyler Anastassija Tatalina are represented from Russia. Tatalina won 2021 World Championship gold in big air competition.
The Fis plans to admit more athletes in the coming days and weeks, provided they meet the criteria for participation as an “Individual Neutral Athlete” (AIN). These criteria exclude athletes from publicly supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine or having ties to the military or state security agencies. Russian supervisors and officials continue to be excluded, as the Cas recently ruled.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) generally allows athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete as individual neutral athletes. However, it leaves it up to the professional associations to decide whether to apply this regulation in their qualifying competitions. The world association Fis, responsible for alpine skiing, ski jumping, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and snowboarding, had originally decided against taking part, but had to reschedule after the Cas ruling.