ISU grants neutral status to four more Russian figure skaters — statement

GENEVA, August 19. /TASS/. The International Skating Union (ISU) has ruled to grant a neutral status to four more figure skaters representing Russia, the ISU’s official website reported on Wednesday. The four Russian athletes at the issue are Kira Domozhirova, Viktor Potapov, Milana Kuzmina and Dmitry Studenikin. ISU’s recently updated information on Russian athletes’ participation under a neutral status at international tournaments now stands at 75. TASS reported earlier that the ISU had cleared Russian athletes to participate internationally in the organization’s supervised tournaments under a neutral status starting with the 2026/27 season. Neutral statuses were previously granted by the ISU to Russian figure skaters Kamila Valieva, Alexandra Ignatova (Trusova before marriage), Petr Gumennik, Vladislav Dikidzhi, Maria, Zakharova, Dina Khusnutdinova, Alexaxandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovsky, Varvara Slutskaya and Gleb Goncharov, Anna Shcherbakova and Yegor Goncharov, Yelizaveta Pasechnik and Dario Chirizano, Irina Khavronina and David Naryzhny, Anastasia Mukhortova and Dmitry Yevgenyev, Anna Kolomenskaya and Artyom Frolov, Yekaterina Chikmareva and Matvey Yanchenkov. In March 2022, the ISU suspended Russian and Belarusian athletes from all international tournaments supervised by the organization due to the developments in Ukraine. At the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, the ISU allowed six Russian athletes to participate under a neutral status - figure skaters Adelia Petrosyan and Petr Gumennik, speed skaters Ksenia Korzhova and Anastasia Semyonova, short track speed skaters Alyona Krylova and Ivan Posashkov. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a decision in July to reinstate the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and also recommended lifting restrictions on the participation of Russian athletes in all international tournaments, including both in individual and team competitions. 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.