The International Olympic Committee confirmed reports that Russian teams, including the men’s and women’s hockey teams, remain banned from competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The continued bans come as part of sanctions imposed following the nation’s illegal military invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“The IOC Executive Board recommendation from March 2023 with regard to teams of athletes with a Russian passport remains in place,” the IOC told Reuters’ Karolos Grohmann. “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.”
The IIHF had already announced an extension of Russia and Belarus’ ban through the 2025-26 season, but the IOC has final say on Olympic events. A small number of individual athletes may still be able to compete in the 2026 games, just as they were at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Per Russian outlet Match TV, the Russian Olympic Committee is already preparing legal challenges to the IOC’s ruling.
“The suspension of the Russian hockey team from all international competitions began back in 2022 and is not legally connected with the decision of the International Olympic Committee to suspend the Russian Olympic Committee in 2023,” the ROC’s statement reads, per a translation via Google Translate. “In this regard, the ROC lawyers are currently working on options for challenging the actions, or rather inactions, of the IOC in international courts. Because the obstacles that the IOC refers to have been removed and the organization has been officially notified of this.
“Our position is simple: there are no legal grounds for disqualifying the ROC, all rights of our National Olympic Committee must be restored, and Russian athletes must have the right to take part in all Olympic disciplines in which they have the right to participate in accordance with the sports selection principles, including the hockey tournament.”
The 2026 games in Italy are set to be the first with participation from NHL players since the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The men’s ice hockey tournament is set to run from February 11 to 22, while the women’s tournament will run from February 5 to 19.
The 2026 men’s tournament is likely to be the last opportunity for Russian legends Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin to claim Olympic gold medals as active players.
