Snow admission: when will Russia return to the international winter sports competitions

Russian sport has been living in isolation for the fifth year now, and hardly anyone feels positive emotions about it. But there has definitely been a positive trend in the last year — many summer federations have neutral status admission, and some even have a flag (in judo, taekwondo, and water sports), and even water polo players are already playing as the Russian national team. However, the situation remains difficult in other summer team sports and in all winter sports. Rumors are actively circulating in the Russian sports community that things will soon get off the ground.

Positive words

Last weekend, Alexander Alaev, president of the Russian Premier League, unexpectedly expressed his optimism.

— My forecast is that next year the national team and the clubs will return to the European arena. I hope it will come true," Alaev told Sport Express.

On April 30, the FIFA Congress was held in Vancouver, Canada, where, among others, the issue of Russia was discussed. We are waiting for the IOC session in Lausanne on June 24-25. Perhaps agreement will be reached on new recommendations for the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes.

"It's too early to say whether the issue [of full Russian admission] will be included in the agenda," Shamil Tarpishchev, president of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTR) and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), told SE. — The session will be held at the end of June. But it's possible. There are problems that I can't talk about. First, the status of the Olympic Committee must be restored.

What other dates are key for Russian, especially winter sports, where admission has so far been limited to the Olympics and individual starts in a truncated squad?

Figure skating and speed skating sports

When the Congress will be held: June 11-12, Tenerife (Spain). This will be a meeting at which the President, Vice-presidents and Council members will be elected (re-elected).

In figure skating, as in short track and speed skating, common sense continues to fight politics. Russian athletes competed in the selection process at the Olympics itself, but the ISU has so far rejected the decision on admission to other tournaments. According to Izvestia, the chances of admitting Russian juniors under a neutral flag at the congress in Spain are high, but adults have few chances. In the Skating Rink show this spring, Anton Sikharulidze, President of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, estimated the likelihood of our athletes returning as follows: Juniors — 70/30, adults — 50/50.

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Ski sports

When the Congress will be held: June 10-11, Belgrade (Serbia). The event will include the election (re-election) of the President and 18 members of the FIS Council.

Unlike figure skaters, Russian skiers competed at the World Cup and after the Olympics, and even at the World Youth Championships. However, there were only two of them — Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva. They were well received in the international family, both behaved as correctly as possible, and this is probably the picture of neutral athletes from Russia that the FIS, led by Johan Elias, would like to see. Therefore, there seems to be no reason not to extend the AIN program, although Olympic skier Semyon Yefimov admitted that the program would be closed.

Another thing is that only a few people participate in it — almost all skiers have contracts with law enforcement agencies and are hostages of the situation. Although officially they are being criticized for the lack of international anti-doping tests. At the same time, I would like to see more of our athletes at the World Cup stages in those sports that were not represented at the Olympics — freestyle skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping.

Hockey

When the Congress will be held: May 28-29, Zurich (Switzerland).

The chances are slim here. Hockey is a team sport, and although the players of the foreign national teams at the Olympics acknowledged that it would be cool to play with Russia, the opinion of the European federations, which do not particularly welcome even the fact of their representatives in the KHL, is on the other side of the scale. With such introductions, it's strange to expect progress. The head of the IIHF, Luc Tardif, directly linked the return to what is happening between Russia and Ukraine, and said that as soon as everything is over, the Russian team will return. True, Tardif is leaving this year, but it's still difficult to imagine that someone more loyal will take his place.

Biathlon

When the Congress will be held: September 17-20, Berchtesgaden (Germany).

Biathlon is the only non—playing sports federation that has not taken a step towards Russia and has not allowed even juniors to compete in any status. It is unlikely to be possible to move forward without CAS hearings, but the IBU is ready to sue, and its Charter is written in such a way that there are fewer grounds for admission than in the same skis.

So it's likely that political issues will be decisive here. Among other things, there are old doping and corruption problems in biathlon (related to ex-president Anders Besseberg, who was suspended for life), which we will certainly remember when the issue of returning to the practical plane.

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Curling

When the Congress will be held: September 3-6, Bratislava (Slovakia).

Our juniors have already been allowed to participate in international competitions using the flag, in accordance with recent IOC recommendations. However, since they say nothing about adult teams, who is still there. Moreover, the Russian juniors were not allowed to participate in the Mixed Pairs World Championships in Canada due to the non-issuance of visas. In other words, the situation remains difficult.

"We are in the process of negotiations with the World Curling Federation, representatives of the United Ski Federation will go to the congress of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) in Belgrade. It is only in the negotiation process that the matter can be brought to an end. In some cases, you can enlist the support of lawyers and follow the legal path," Dmitry Svishchev told TASS in April 2026, when he was president of the Russian Curling Federation.

Bobsleigh and skeleton

When the Congress will be held: June 9-12, Salzburg (Austria).

It is impossible to say that in the world bobsleigh at least they wink at us and try to help us. Even during the Olympic season, they tried to dismiss Russia in every possible way. At first, the twos and fours were recognized as teams, so that only skeletonists and women's monobobs could compete. Skeleton racer Vladislav Semenov won four European Cup stages in a row, but he still did not have enough ranking points for the World Cup and the Olympics. There are no guarantees of participation in the next season. Therefore, it is possible that we will have to fight our way through the courts again.

Tobogganing

When the Congress will be held: June 8-9, Berchtesgaden (Germany).

The situation is similar to bobsleigh, although our team still managed to compete in the Olympics in sledges, although they did it quietly and unnoticeably, trying not to talk about themselves. The Russians did not appear at the World Cup stages after the Olympics. Apparently, everything here will be decided by the congress, where we do not have a majority of supporters, but maybe the factor of the last Olympics will somehow tip the scales in favor of common sense. At the same time, it should be remembered that the International FIL Federation is currently headed by Einars Vogelis from Latvia, and the trendsetters are traditionally Germans. All of them are completely unwilling to ease the sanctions.

Ski mountaineering

When is the session: June, online.

The Ski Mountaineering Federation was the first to allow Russians to participate in international competitions in a neutral status. Nikita Filippov's Olympic silver absolutely added weight to us. In fact, it remains to achieve participation in mixed relay races — this is the last kind where there are no ours. Well, return the flag as much as possible.

Filippov himself told the Sport-Express about June as a point of decision-making: "The International Olympic Committee and our international federation will have a session in June. The issue of admitting us under the flag will be resolved. It will also be decided whether to add an individual race to the Olympics and increase the number of quotas."

It is very possible that by Russia Day on June 12, our team will have made progress in returning to the international arena in winter sports. It will be at least symbolic.