Skeleton-Ukrainian Heraskevych's CAS hearing on 'helmet of remembrance' underway

MILAN, Feb 13 : The Court of Arbitration for Sport began hearing Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych’s appeal on Friday, with a decision expected later in the day on whether he can return to competition at the Milano Cortina Olympics after his disqualification over his “helmet of remembrance”.

The 27-year-old was removed from the Olympic programme on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that imagery on the helmet — depicting athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 — breached rules on political neutrality at the Games.

Heraskevych is seeking reinstatement or at least a CAS-supervised run, pending a decision by sport's highest court ahead of the final two runs set for Friday evening.

"I'm pretty positive about how it went," he told reporters outside the office of CAS in Milan following his appearance before the court. "I hope the truth will prevail and I know that I was innocent."

The racer said he was now getting threats from Russians and blamed the IOC's decision for that.

"I believe that these Games now and this act of the IOC also serves as an instrument of propaganda for Russia," Heraskevych said. "I still receive a lot of threats from the Russian side."

The IOC, whose president Kirsty Coventry met Heraskevych on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse, has allowed the athlete to keep his credentials despite his disqualification, so he can stay at the Milano Cortina Games.

"For me sitting down with Vladyslav and his dad, the conversation was extremely respectful," Coventry told a press conference on Friday. "After that I asked the disciplinary commission to re-look at not pulling his accreditation, out of respect for him and his dad. I