Ukrainian hopes to win helmet appeal, knows Olympic shot over - ESPN

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — The Court of Arbitration for Sport heard the appeal of Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych surrounding his disqualification from the Milan Cortina Games on Friday, though the slider knows he won't be competing in these Olympics even if he wins his case.

«Looks like this train has left,» Heraskevych said in Milan on Friday.

His appeal lasted for about 2½ hours. Heraskevych, draped in a Ukrainian flag, left the hearing smiling and saying he believes that CAS will rule in his favor. But he has left Cortina d'Ampezzo's Olympic Village, has no plans to return to the mountains during the Games and said he believes he did the right thing.

«From day one, I told you that I think I'm right,» Heraskevych said. «I don't have any regrets.»

Meanwhile, International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry reiterated that Heraskevych's disqualification was justified because he insisted on bringing his messaging — a tribute helmet — onto the field of play.

Heraskevych planned to wear a helmet displaying the images of more than 20 Ukrainian athletes and coaches who have been killed since Russia invaded their country in 2022. He feels the helmet was not in violation of the Olympic Charter.

«I never expected it to be such a big scandal,» Heraskevych said, adding that the story only became big when the IOC ruled he could not wear what he calls «the memory helmet.»

Speaking in Milan, a day after she visited with Heraskevych in Cortina d'Ampezzo moments before he was told that he could not participate in his Olympic race, Coventry repeated what the IOC has been pointing to for several days about the need to control how messages from athletes can be shared with the world.

«I think that he in some ways