Russian Teams Remain Banned from 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, IOC Confirms

Russia's Olympic ban will remain in place for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee made the announcement on Tuesday amid recent reports hockey officials from Russia were holding talks with the International Ice Hockey Federation about participation in the 2026 Games:

"The IOC Executive Board recommendation from March 2023 with regard to teams of athletes with a Russian passport remains in place. It is based on the fact that, by definition, a group of Individual Neutral Athletes cannot be considered a team. We take note that the IIHF has confirmed that it will follow this recommendation."

There had been no indication the IIHF was considering lifting Russia's ban from international competitions.

The IIHF announced in February it had extended the ban for Russian and Belarusian national and club teams for the 2025-26 season, citing safety and security concerns.

Despite that announcement, the IOC still had final say on whether Russia would be allowed to compete at the 2026 Olympics.

ESPN's Emily Kaplan noted in the wake of the IIHF ruling this was going to be "one of the biggest issues on the docket" for the IOC after electing a new president. Kirsty Coventry was officially elected new IOC president in March.

Russia hasn't been represented at the Olympics since 2016. The country was banned in December 2017 by the IOC due to a state-sponsored doping scandal.

Select athletes from the country were allowed to compete at the Olympics in 2018, 2020 and 2022 under the Olympic Athletes from Russia designation, but they did not formally represent the country.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the IOC executive board suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in October 2023 and reserved the right to decide about participation of individual neutral athletes with Russian passports in the 2024 and 2026 Games.

There were a total of 32 athletes from Russia and Belarus who competed at the Paris Games last summer under the AIN designation. Five of them won medals, highlighted by Ivan Litvinovich gold medal in men's trampoline.

The 2026 Milano Cortina Games will take place from Feb. 6-22.