The first Russian athletes arrived in Italy to participate in the Olympics

Russian neutral skiers Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva have arrived in Italy and have already started training on the Olympic tracks. This was announced on January 31 by coach Danil Akimov, who also has a neutral status as a representative of the athletes' staff.

"Athletes (Korostelev and Nepryaeva. — Ed.) We arrived at the tracks, we are training. Today is the first day. Before that, they trained in Switzerland," TASS quoted the coach as saying.

Nepryaeva will become the first Russian athlete to compete for Olympic medals: her skiathlon start is scheduled for February 7. The next day, on February 8, Korostelev will perform in the same discipline.

On February 1, Russian luge skaters and speed skaters will fly to Italy. They will start competing at the Olympic Games before representatives of other sports.

Getting closer to the first: Korostelev almost won his first World Cup medal

Our athlete was always 10 seconds away from the top three

Norwegian newspaper NRK reported on January 30 that three-time Olympic champion in cross-country skiing Alexander Bolshunov was excluded from the Sudtirol Moonlight Classic race in Italy, as he does not have a neutral status. Initially, the athlete was listed under the flag of Kazakhstan, but his name disappeared from the list.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.