MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. Six Russian Para athletes have received bipartite invitations for the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Italy next month, President of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) Pavel Rozhkov told TASS on Tuesday.

The invitations were extended to three-time Paralympic Champion in alpine skiing Aleksey Bugayev, two-time World Champion in alpine skiing Varvara Voronchikhina, multiple World Champion in para cross-skiing Ivan Golubkov, World Championship medalist in para cross-country skiing Anastasia Bagiyan and her guide Sergey Sinyakin, and para snowboarders Dmitry Fadeyev and Philipp Shebbo.

"The final distribution of quotas for the [2026] Paralympic Games in cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and snowboarding was completed last year on May 5," Rozhkov said. "As of today, a relatively small number of quotas have been allocated to the national Paralympic Committees that submitted additional applications for vacant slots due to the non-confirmation of participation by several athletes."

"Following the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] in December 2025 to allow our athletes to compete, the RPC has repeatedly appealed to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation [FIS] and the International Paralympic Committee [IPC] requesting additional slots for the Russian national team at the Paralympic Games," he continued.

"Due to the discriminatory suspension from competitions, our athletes were unable to compete fully at the qualifying tournaments. Unfortunately, our requests were not approved," the RPC chief noted.

"As for other sports disciplines, we have not yet been allowed to participate internationally in biathlon and could not rely on bipartite invitations. There are no such invitations in sledge hockey and wheelchair curling as we were not cleared for qualifying tournaments," Rozhkov added.

He noted that the RPC submitted a list of 16 candidates for invitations. The list was compiled based on proposals from the coaching councils of the Russian national teams and subsequently reviewed and approved by the Executive Committee of the Russian Paralympic Committee together with the All-Russian Federation of Sports for Persons with Musculoskeletal System Disorders and the All-Russian Federation of Sports for the Blind.

The individual and contractual nature of the bipartite invitations from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) distinguishes them from regular quotas. Regular quotas are distributed automatically based on qualifying results and ratings, while bipartite invitations are issued under special agreements between the IPC and the National Paralympic Committees. Bipartite invitations provide a loophole to bypass standard selection procedures if an athlete earned rating points in individual starts but has not met all qualifying criteria. They are granted in exceptional cases, such as for athletes from countries facing restrictions. The regular quota is strictly limited by the number of slots per country and sport, while bipartite invitations are submitted individually before the deadline and approved by the IPC based on achievements.

2026 Winter Paralympic Games

On January 20, the IPC revised the decision regarding the admission of the Russian national team to the 2026 Paralympics, allowing cross-country skiers, snowboarders, and alpine skiers to apply for invitations. In September 2025, the General Assembly of the International Paralympic Committee fully reinstated the Paralympic Committees of Russia and Belarus.

However, on October 23, 2025, the IPC press office announced that Russians would not be competing at the 2026 Paralympic Games due to the stance assumed by certain sports federations. In particular, the Council of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) decided not to allow Russians to participate in international competitions, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The RPC later successfully challenged that decision with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The 2026 Winter Paralympic Games will be held in Italy on March 6-15.