CAS RULES ON RUSSIAN ATHLETE PARTICIPATION IN THE 2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
Russian luge athletes have new hope of competing in next year’s Milano/Cortina Winter Olympics after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on 24 October 2025.
The first case, brought by the Russian Luge Federation (RLF) and six Russian athletes against the International Luge Federation (FIL), was partially upheld, with the athletes’ joint appeal dismissed.
The second, filed by the Russian speed skater, Daria Kachanova, against the International Skating Union (ISU), was dismissed.
The Luge Case: Proportionality and Neutral Athlete Status
In June 2025, the FIL Congress extended its suspension of Russian athletes, coaches and officials from international competitions, citing safety concerns. The FIL also decided not to implement a programme allowing the participation of Russian athletes under the special status of ‘Individual Neutral Athlete’ (AIN). As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, with the assistance of Belarus, and the continuing hostilities, for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the IOC had established strict ‘neutrality’ criteria and had a three person panel in place to review and approve all athletes proposed by the National Olympic Committees of Russia and Belarus for participation in these Games.
The RLF and six athletes – Aleksandr Gorbatsevich, Sofiia Mazur, Andrei Bogdanov, Iurii Prokhorov, Ekaterina Fomina and Polina Grigore – appealed to CAS in July 2025, seeking to annul both decisions and reinstate their eligibility for Olympic qualification events.
A virtual hearing took place on 24 October 2025. The FIL argued that its decision was motivated solely by safety considerations and was not meant to be a sanction based on nationality. The CAS Panel acknowledged these concerns but found that a complete exclusion of Russian athletes was not a proportionate measure to achieve the stated objective of ensuring safe competition. The CAS Panel ruled that, whilst the suspension of the RLF as a Federation remains in force, the prohibition on Russian athletes competing under AIN status must be set aside. However, the athletes’ individual request to compete immediately was dismissed.
This distinction is significant: Russian athletes could, in principle, compete as neutrals if the FIL creates an AIN framework aligned with the International Olympic Committee neutrality programme, which was successfully applied at the Paris Games. The FIL currently has no such mechanism in place, leaving any practical reinstatement uncertain.
The Kachanova Case: Upholding ISU Neutrality Criteria
In a separate procedure, Russian speed skater, Daria Kachanova, appealed before CAS an ISU ruling that rejected her inclusion on the AIN list, due to her affiliation with CSKA Moscow, a club controlled by the Russian Ministry of Defence.
After a virtual hearing on 17 October 2025, the CAS Panel, by majority, upheld the ISU decision, finding that Kachanova did not meet the neutrality criteria. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed.
Neutral Athlete Framework for Milano–Cortina 2026
On 19 September 2025, the IOC Executive Board confirmed that athletes, with a Russian or Belarusian passport and who qualify for the Milano–Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, may compete as AINs under the same strict conditions applied at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.
The criteria exclude any athlete or support personnel, who actively support the war in Ukraine or are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or security agencies. Only individual athletes, not teams, are eligible.
Each case will be reviewed by the AIN Eligibility Review Panel, chaired by three IOC Members. AINs will compete under a neutral flag and anthem, without national symbols or medal-table attribution. This IOC framework defines the standards to which International Sports Federations, such as the FIL, must now align their own qualification and participation rules. The IOC has left it to each Federation to determine whether and how to apply the policy within their own disciplines.
Broader Legal and Regulatory Implications
These cases underscore the CAS continued reliance on the principle of proportionality—a central tenet of sports governance and arbitration. The CAS has repeatedly emphasised that blanket exclusions are permissible only when no lesser, equally effective alternatives exist.
Recent rulings, including the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) case in September 2025, have followed similar reasoning: disciplinary or protective measures must be tailored, reasoned, and compatible with the Federation’s own statutes.
Whilst the CAS ruling provides a procedural victory for the Russian Luge Federation, practical reinstatement will depend upon the FIL willingness to create and implement an AIN eligibility programme. Other International Sports Federations, such as the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS), have recently chosen not to do so. The FIS has maintained the suspension of skiers from Russia and Belarus that has been in place since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Russian Ski Federation has already announced its intention to appeal that decision.
The FIL and ETTU decisions may also influence pending disputes such as the Israel Gymnastics Federation appeal against the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), concerning the exclusion of Israeli athletes from the 2025 Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta. See our earlier Post of 22 October 2025 on our website.
Both the luge and skating decisions were issued without written grounds, which will follow in due course. Unless confidentiality is requested, the full awards will be published on the CAS website at ‘www.ta-cas.org’.
We advise International Sports Federations and athletes on eligibility legal issues and further information is available from either Dr Lucien Valloni or Kim Gamboni by emailing them at valloni@valloni.ch and gamboni@valloni.ch respectively.