Ivan Posashkov finished fifth in the quarterfinals of the 1,500 m event at the 2026 Olympics

On Saturday, February 14, short-track cyclist Ivan Posashkov competed in the quarterfinals of the 1,500 m event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. The Russian scored 2 minutes, 19.117 seconds and finished fifth in his race. The athlete competed in a neutral status, without national symbols.

Latvian Roberts Kruzbergs (2.18,237), Italian Tomas Nadalini (2.18,543) and Pole Felix Pajon (2.18,687) advanced to the next round. Italian Luca Speckenhauser (2.12,485) showed the best time in the quarterfinals. The final races at a distance of 1.5 thousand meters will be held on the night of February 15: final B will be held at 0:27 Moscow time, and Final A at 0:34 Moscow time.

Earlier, on February 10, Posashkov competed in qualifying at a distance of 1 thousand m. He showed a result of 1 minute 28.64 seconds and finished fourth in his race. Later, the Russian was disqualified for violating the rules of wrestling with Chinese Lin Xiaojun, who eventually took third place and advanced to the next round. The best qualifying time was shown by the Dutchman Jens van't Wout, the second was the Latvian Renis Berzins.

Russian short-track cyclist Ivan Posashkov will compete at the 2026 Olympics: who is he and what is he known for

The Russian athlete provided the country with a ticket in the short track for the 2026 Games

Ivan Posashkov was born on August 6, 2004 in St. Petersburg. He is a Master of Sports of Russia (2020) and a Master of Sports of Russia of international class (2024). The athlete's assets include the gold of the 2025 Russian Championship in the 5,000 m relay, the bronze of the Russian Championship in the 1,000 m, the victory in the relay at the VIII All—Russian Winter Universiade-2024 and medals of the Russian Cup stages.

In the 2025/26 season, Posashkov made his international debut as part of the Olympic selection process and was eligible to compete at the Games in Italy.