"I hope there will be no merger with the figure skating federation"

On Friday, the International Skating Union (ISU) announced the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes in neutral status to participate in the selection for the next Winter Olympics. Thus, our figure skaters, speed skaters and representatives of short track speed skating have a chance to go to Milan in February 2026.

President of the Russian Skating Union Nikolai Gulyaev commented on the ISU decision, and also shared his opinion on the election of the new leadership of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and expressed hope that his organization will not merge with the Federation of figure skating.

-How did you react to the ISUdecision to allow our athletes to qualify for figure skating, speed skating and short track speed skating before the selection for the Olympics?

- This is a very important decision for us. Of course, we reacted positively. Our athletes should return to international competitions, and we need to do everything for this. Now we need to study the regulations, all the documents. After that I will be able to comment on the ISU decision in more detail.

- On December 13, the Olympic Assembly elected a new leadership of the ROC - Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev became the president of the organization, and you were extended your membership in the executive committee for four years. How do you comment on these decisions?

- Of course, I congratulated Mikhail Vladimirovich on his election as president of the ROC. I thanked him for the offer to continue working in the executive committee. And I am grateful to the Olympic Assembly for electing me to the new executive committee of the ROC. I am sure that together with the Minister of Sport and the new head of the ROC, we all the sports community will be able to achieve significant development. And most importantly, to achieve the return of our athletes to international competitions - this is now the main task.

- Back when Mikhail Degtyarev was only the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, under his influence there was a tendency to unite the national federations so that they would correspond to their international analogs. This has already happened with gymnastics and water sports. Taking into account the fact that ISU manages not only speed skating and short track speed skating, but also figure skating all over the planet, should we expect that your union will be united with figure skaters?

- I hope it will not happen.

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- Why?

- Us and figure skaters have too different sports. Yes, they are based on ice skating, but the very specifics, be it rules, training system and more, are very different. I understand: taking into account that ISU unites under its umbrella both speed skating and short track speed skating, and figure skating, the question of a similar union in Russia can be raised. But in addition to the different specifics of sports, we should also take into account that for years our country had two representatives in the governing bodies of the ISU - from figure skating and speed skating. Since our task is not only to return Russian athletes to international competitions, but also to restore and improve our position in international sports organizations, I think it is inappropriate to give up the opportunities I mentioned above.

- Did you present these arguments to Mikhail Degtyarev?

- We have not discussed this issue in detail yet. But I think we will have such a conversation in the future and we will find common ground.

- According to those internal competitions that your organization has held in recent years, how would you assess the readiness of our skaters to return to the international arena?

- They perform well at domestic competitions. And I hope that soon enough they will be able to perform successfully at international competitions when they get there. It is clear that the long absence of practice of such starts cannot but affect, but our guys and girls have enough potential to fight for high places again.