Selective collection: which Russian athletes will compete at the 2026 Olympics?
At the 2024 Summer Olympics, our team was represented by 15 participants in five sports. In Paris, the Russians, who competed in a neutral status, were able to win one silver medal — tennis players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider scored in the doubles tournament. At that time, it seemed that our representation would be wider at the 2026 Games. Yes, significantly fewer medals are awarded at the Winter Olympics, but the process of returning to the world stage has been launched, and more and more Russian athletes have begun to receive neutral status from international federations. Athletes in only three of the sixteen Winter Olympic sports (biathlon, curling and hockey) currently do not have such statuses. But somewhere the admission came too late, so it is unlikely that we will be able to count on more participants in Italy than we had in Paris a year and a half ago.
The Neutral Dozen
Nikita Filippov, a ski mountaineer, was the first of our team to qualify for the Games. He did it last season. This year Nikita waited a long time for an international license to participate in the World Cup, but in the end this formality was passed. As well as receiving an invitation to the Olympics from the IOC, which Filippov accepted.
Figure skaters Peter Gumennik and Adelia Petrosyan received similar invitations from the IOC. The International Skating Union allowed Russians only to the qualifying starts, and only two singles could compete in figure skating. At the qualifying tournament in China, Peter and Adelia completed the task of participating in the Games.
In addition to Filippov, Gumennik and Petrosyan, the IOC personally invited two short-track athletes to Milan 2026 - Alyona Krylova (500 and 1000 m) and Ivan Posashkov (1000 and 1500 m). The qualifying stages in this form were held in October-November last year.
Thus, so far only five Russians have guarantees close to one hundred percent for performing in Italy. The rest of the qualified athletes have not yet received invitations.
Speed skaters Anastasia Semenova (mass start) and Ksenia Korzhova (3000 m) are awaiting letters from the IOC. Their selection for the Games ended in mid-December 2025. As a result, we will have two participants in all three ISU-controlled sports. Skiers Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva grabbed the last available quotas. They did it in one stage in Davos, Switzerland. Our athletes have earned Olympic licenses in all disciplines except team sports. They should not expect invitations from the IOC this week, because the selection process has not yet been formally completed.
There were six Russians who started qualifying in luge, but by the equator of the qualifying campaign, the FIL had reduced the team by half. The International Federation has stripped Alexander Gorbatsevich, Sofia Mazur and Ksenia Shamova of their neutral status due to doubts about their neutrality. In addition, our sledgers were not allowed on the stage to Latvia. Nevertheless, Matvey Perestoronin, Pavel Repilov and Daria Olesik fulfilled the qualification standards. Now it is necessary to wait for letters from the International Olympic Committee.
The burning deadline
In the other seven sports, where we have representatives with a neutral status, there is the same qualification deadline for the Olympics. The selection in bobsleigh, skeleton, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding and freestyle skiing ends on January 18. That is, next Monday, the picture of the Russian participants in the 2026 Games should be complete. However, our membership in Italy will not increase significantly.
During the New Year holidays, pleasant news came from the skeleton. Russian Vladislav Semenov scored two victories at the European Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, where Daniil Romanov also won silver. However, these successes did not bring as many points as if we had competed at the World Cup. Currently, Semenov is ranked 54th in the ranking with 240 points (120 for each European Cup gold), and the top 25 qualify for the Olympics. There are two competitions left on the calendar in Germany where you can earn points, but both will be held on the same day (January 16): The World Cup in Altenberg and the European Cup in Winterberg. But even if Semyonov miraculously wins gold among the elite, it won't be enough to qualify for the Olympics. The same situation applies to women, where the best of our team, Alyona Frolova, ranks 66th in the IBSF ranking.
Lyubov Chernykh and Sofia Stepushkina received neutral statuses in bobsleigh. Here, quotas are also given according to the IBSF rating, in which both Russians are not present. They have not performed at international competitions yet. The first competitions for them will be the European Cup in Innsbruck on January 14 and 15. If they perform well, they will be able to participate in the World Cup in Altenberg on January 17. But the female monobob is far from our kind, so there is no reason to count on a trip to the Olympics here.
In freestyle skiing, 12 athletes have access to international competitions. Quotas in this form are distributed according to the rating. A number of conditions must be met (a minimum of 80.00 FIS points in mogul and ski cross and a minimum of 50.00 FIS points in halfpipe, slopestyle and big air, as well as getting into the top 30 at at least one World Cup or World Championship held last season).
Anastasia Tatalina, who received a neutral status from the FIS in the first rows, started competing at the World Cup. She did not have time to qualify for Big Air, in which she won the gold of the World Championships, but she remains slopestyle. At the stage in Aspen, USA, she took 10th place. Ahead of the stage in Laax, Switzerland, on January 17th. In an interview with Izvestia, Anastasia said that to get to the Games, she needs to be in the top 4 twice. So Tatalina has a chance at the Olympics, which cannot be said about other freestyle skiers.
Lana Pruskova, Timofey Bralgin and Alexander Tereshkin also have neutral status in slopestyle. There are doubts that some of them have managed to get Schengen visas and will perform in Laax. Tereshkin, judging by the publications on social networks, is currently in St. Petersburg. It's a similar story with other admitted freestyle skiers. Mogulists Nikita Andreev, Nikita Novitsky and Svetlana Ivanova need to be in Waterville Valley on January 15, but visas to the United States are not issued quickly. And halfpipe representatives Alexandra Glazkova and Vladimir Ivanov, as well as Daria Melchakova, Polina Ryabova and Natalia Sherina from ski cross have already passed the last stages of the World Cup in the selection for the Olympics.
Ski jumpers lost their chance to qualify for the 2026 Games. Four Russians were allowed to participate in this sport, including Olympic silver medalist Daniil Sadreev. The team did not pass the inventory check in Europe due to the lack of visas. According to the head coach of the national team, Yevgeny Plekhov, they will receive Schengen no earlier than January 22-23, when the qualifying period is over. Cross-country skiers Artyom Galunin and Samir Mastiev also have problems with documents. On January 17-18, the German Oberhof will host the final qualifying stage of the World Cup, but it is unclear how to get to it.
Snowboarding has the same difficulties — visas. Nine Russians got neutral statuses, but so far no one can use them. To get to the Games, you need to be ranked among the top 25-32 (each discipline has a different number of quotas), and also get into the top 30 at least at one stage of the World Cup. Almost all of the last stages of the selection process will be held in the Schengen countries. The exception is the board cross competition, which will be hosted by Chinese Shenyang on January 17-18. But at this stage, Kristina Paul and Arseniy Tomin need to be among the best — if they go there, of course.
In alpine skiing, Russians are already competing in tournaments under the auspices of the FIS. We must obtain at least one Olympic license for men and women. A basic quota is available to each country, subject to a number of conditions. The main thing is participation in competitions and scoring points. The higher the score, the fewer points are given. In slalom and giant slalom competitions, you need to get an average of no more than 120 points for the top five starts. In downhill, supergiant, and super combined, the top two races average no more than 80 points.
In fact, the bar for the base quota is low. The main thing is to get enough starts. And the Russians are still coping with this task. Five of our skiers have a neutral status: Yulia Pleshkova, Ekaterina Tkachenko, Alexander Andrienko, Semyon Efimov, Ivan Kuznetsov. Tkachenko did not attend the World Cup, but at other FIS competitions she fulfilled the Olympic standard. She has six races in slalom and giant slalom, where she has never gone beyond 50 points. Efimov, the slalom athlete, secured the base quota for men, who even won one start in Italy. As for the World Cup, Yulia Pleshkova has the best result. In the Austrian Zauhensee, she took 51st place, earning 54.73 points. Yes, our elite positions are far from medals, but there should be two representatives at the Games.
As a result, we have a lot of athletes with neutral statuses, but at the 2026 Olympics we will see about the same number of Russians as at the Summer Games in Paris.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
