GENEVA, December 19. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has extended an official invitation to Russia’s ski mountaineer Nikita Filippov to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, the IOC press office announced on Friday.

Fillipov is now Russia’s third officially approved athlete to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy joining figure skaters Adelia Petrosyan and Pyotr Gumennik.

Russia’s 18-year old teen-prodigy Petrosyan is already the two-time champion of the Russian figure skating championships in ladies’ competitions. Gumennik, 23, is the silver and bronze medalist of the Russian Championships an addition to winning two finals of Russia’s Grand Prix tournaments.

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. Russian athletes are allowed to participate in the Olympics under a neutral status and only in individual competitions.

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.