Belarusian

Russian and Belarusian para-athletes will not be at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, despite the International Paralympic Committee lifting its ban on them.

Although the IPC oversees the Games, there are four separate governing bodies in charge of the six sports taking place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Three of the governing bodies have decided to keep their bans on athletes from the two countries, and although Russia and Belarus are now allowed to compete in ice hockey, the decision came too late for them to take part in qualifying.

Both countries were suspended from Paralympic competition after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Belarus a close ally of Russia.

A partial ban – allowing athletes to compete as neutrals – was introduced in 2023.

IPC members then voted to lift the suspensions on the two countries at a meeting last month, allowing para-athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags.

However, the four international federations have now told the IPC “that, in practice, no athletes from the two nations are likely to qualify for March’s Games”.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), International Biathlon Union (IBU) and World Curling have not lifted their bans, while World Para Ice Hockey has already decided which countries will enter the qualifying tournament for the two remaining places at the Games.

“In the same way that the IPC fully respects the decision of the IPC General Assembly not to maintain the partial suspensions of NPC Belarus and NPC Russia, we also fully respect the decisions of each international federation regarding the sports they govern,” said IPC president Andrew Parsons.

“The positions of FIS, IBU and World Curling currently mean that athletes and teams from Belarus and Russia cannot compete in their events, making it impossible for them to qualify for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.

“While Belarus and Russia can now compete in Para ice hockey competitions, at this late stage of the qualification cycle, the six teams for November’s Paralympic Games qualification tournament have already been determined.

“I hope the focus will now be very much on the outstanding athletes and NPCs that will compete at Milano Cortina 2026 next March, as well as the tremendous transformational legacies the Paralympic Winter Games will create.”

Athletes will undergo checks to prove they do not actively support the war in Ukraine or have links with the army.

Russians will compete as neutral independent athletes without a national flag or anthem at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee has said, maintaining the same sanctions as the Paris Summer Games last year.

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in October 2023 for recognising regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, saying the move had violated the Olympic Charter.

“We also spoke about the Independent Neutral Athletes (AINs). This will be nothing new,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry told a news conference. “The executive board will take the exact same approach that was done in Paris (2024 Olympics). Nothing has changed.”

Russian and Belarusian athletes who reach qualifying times will be first vetted for any links to the Russian military or support of the war in Ukraine, both of which will exclude them.

Russian teams are banned from the Games. Belarus has acted as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine.

A small number of individual Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to take part as AINs in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics after first passing rigorous vetting by the IOC.

They competed without the Russian or Belarusian flag and anthem. Instead, they took part as neutral athletes.

Four Russian figure skaters in men’s and women’s singles were recently approved by the International Skating Union to try to qualify for the Games, which start on February 6, 2026 in Italy, as neutral athletes.