Russian skiers, snowboarders win CAS ruling to try to qualify for Winter Olympics

Russian skiers and snowboarders won a court ruling on Tuesday to apply as neutral athletes for qualification events to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics after nearly four years of being excluded during the war on Ukraine.

Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyaryov posted on social media that an appeal from Russia to the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a blanket ban imposed by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) within days of the full military invasion in February 2022. FIS renewed the ban in October.

CAS later published its ruling in another legal win for Russian and Belarusian winter sports athletes.

In October, a similar appeal to CAS by the Russian luge federation and athletes ruled against a long-standing blanket ban based on their passports.

Sports bodies have excluded Russians mainly for security reasons to protect athletes and prevent protests that also could disrupt the field of play.

Still, there is little time for FIS to process applications from athletes to be approved with neutral status ahead of a Jan. 18 qualification deadline. The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics begin on Feb. 6.

Neutral status can be approved in most sports, following International Olympic Committee guidance, for athletes who have not publicly supported the military invasion of Ukraine and do not have ties to military or state security agencies.

Russian athletes and team officials also face challenges getting visas to enter some countries that host qualifying events such as on the World Cup circuit in Alpine, cross-country and freestyle skiing, and snowboarding.

FIS runs almost half of the entire Winter Games program — 57 of 116 gold medal events.

CAS said its judges gave an urgent ruling combining separate