MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) has officially barred Russian athletes from taking part in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games qualifiers, President of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation Anatoly Pegov told TASS on Friday.
On Friday, the Italian city of Milano hosted the 2025 IBSF Congress meeting ahead of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
"It was a secret-ballot vote, we were not allowed to participate," Pegov said. "Nine delegates voted in our favor, six abstained and 36 voted against."
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Italy, in the cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The event will take place on February 6-22, 2026.
Athletes qualify for the Olympic Games in line with the IBSF rankings list, which is updated based on the results of federation-sponsored competitions. Countries are granted Olympic quotas by the relevant National Olympic Committees (NOC). The qualification period for the 2026 Olympics will end on January 18, and the IBSF will then redistribute its vacant quotas on January 22-25.
Russian Bobsleigh Federation chief Pegov also said that the Ukrainian delegation exerted pressure on the officials at the IBSF meeting to get them to make a decision to bar Russian athletes from the 2026 Olympics qualifiers.
"The 15th item on the meeting’s agenda was devoted to the vote on the admission of neutral athletes from Russia to IBSF events," he said. "But before that, the Ukrainian delegation made a presentation, criticizing everyone including our federation, athletes, and the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation and the Russian Olympic Committee."
"They spilled their guts about everything, talking about who served in the army and when, who works and where, who liked what on social media, holding training camps in Crimea. They also named coaches and athletes, many of whom are no longer working or training during their speech," Pegov noted.
"We held the floor after them," he continued. "We argued that if the strategy of the international federation is to promote bobsleigh and skeleton, then how can athletes from Russia, who are the second-best in the world in these sports, be excluded?"
"We tried to explain that we were now asking to vote not for a list of neutral athletes, not for an assessment of our federation’s work, but for the right of athletes to individually and independently apply for their neutral status permits, so that the IBSF may decide later who should be granted this status and who should not."
Pegov also stated that the decision against granting a neutral status to the Russian athletes was made based on a majority vote.
"It was decided by a majority vote against providing our guys with the right to apply for a neutral status and perform. It should be also clear that many countries, such as Latvia, Canada, Germany, Norway, the United States, Austria, and Italy, had the authority of two votes each, unlike, for example, the International Luge Federation, where all countries have the right for one vote only."
"On the whole, we expected such an outcome, but we were stunned that Ukraine was allowed to make a presentation because this was the way the IBSF Executive Committee decided earlier in the morning," the Russian sports official continued. "The leadership of the international federation will be re-elected next year, and they do not want to publicly assume a stance in support of our country - they are fighting for the votes of their future voters."
"And some small countries are interested in the absence of competition and hope to obtain licenses, since our athletes will not be among the applicants," Pegov added.
Russia’s previously imposed IBSF ban
On March 29, at an IBSF Congress extraordinary meeting, delegates agreed to postpone making any decision on Russian athletes’ admission to IBSF competitions in the capacity of neutral athletes until the next meeting of the organization’s Congress on September 11-12 in Italy.
In mid-July 2022, the IBSF announced its decision to suspend Russian athletes from all international tournaments until further notice.
In late March, 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended international sports federations to allow individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international sports tournaments, but only under specific conditions.
Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.
IOC sanctions against Russia, Belarus
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to prohibit athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended allowing individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international sports tournaments, but only under specific conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.
On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.