Russian Skaters Allowed to Compete as Neutrals (AIN) to Qualify for 2026 Winter Olympics

[Miezekatze]

If they submitted Mishina/Gallymov and Stepanova/Bukin as first options, and both were not approved by the Council, it means that the second options (let's say, B/K and Kaganovskaia) also automatically disqualify.
The subs options are only for the cases of injuries

In that case that were pretty dumb submissions by Russia?

Well since I’d rather see no Russians compete at all, I’m also fine with this outcome.

 

[Karen-W]

So can we conclude that Petrosian and Gumennik will be the Russians at the OQE (and Olys if they qualify) and the second names are the subs?

Yes, I think so. The Russian names aren't listed in alphabetical order, unlike the Belarusian ones.

Found these results from the Union Cup 2024 competition in Minsk last December - https://figure.skating.by/competition/2024-25/Union_Cup/index.htm

Puzanau is their top senior man - scored 234.56 and placed 2nd behind Gumennik who scored 298.99; Barakhouski is their top junior man - scored 221.67.

Safanova did not compete, but I'd guess she's still their top senior woman; Sidarenka scored 141.49 - if she winds up being their OQE entry, she's not earning a spot.

Interestingly, they didn't submit any of their senior dance teams, but instead went with their top junior dance team, who scored 148.85 at the same competition.

 

[Ka3sha]

In that case that were pretty dumb submissions by Russia?

Indeed.

RIA confirmed that Boikova/Kozlovskii and Kaganovskaia/Nekrasov were submitted as subs, neither got a reply from ISU on their status. Which means that their cases were not even viewed, because the first options (Stepanova/Bukin and Mishina/Gallyamov) were not approved

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Are they approving athletes for all sports at the Olympics? And does this also apply to worlds?

 

[caseyedwards]

In that case that were pretty dumb submissions by Russia?

Well since I’d rather see no Russians compete at all, I’m also fine with this outcome.

They were not going to pre screen when the criteria wasn’t even defined clearly

 

[caseyedwards]

Are they approving athletes for all sports at the Olympics? And does this also apply to worlds?

Edited to correct the point that isu ban on Russians is still complete and total and only ioc events run by isu allow Russians and its one man and one woman only

 

[Karen-W]

Are they approving athletes for all sports at the Olympics? And does this also apply to worlds?

The ISU has completed the review process for figure skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. No idea what will happen with other sports at the Olympics.

No, this does not apply to Worlds. RUS/BLR skaters are still not allowed to compete internationally. They are currently only approved to compete at the Olympic Qualifying Competition in Beijing in September. If they earn a spot then they will be allowed to compete at the Olympics.

 

[caseyedwards]

No that is wrong. This is for Olympics only. Isu still bans all Russians except for ioc events. China competition is ioc and Olympics is ioc. Two Russians can go to those. But they are banned from all isu only events

 

[Amy L]

Indeed.

RIA confirmed that Boikova/Kozlovskii and Kaganovskaia/Nekrasov were submitted as subs, neither got a reply from ISU on their status. Which means that their cases were not even viewed, because the first options (Stepanova/Bukin and Mishina/Gallyamov) were not approved

I think it's beyond stupid that they chose those teams as #1. But I suppose they'd rather go by rank because it would be considered disrespectful or something. And now they get to play the victims in the press again.

It would have been fun if Kaganovskaya had been allowed to go though. That would have been an epic woman scorned payback.

 

[caseyedwards]

You can add 4 to thread title now

4 Russian skaters allowed to compete as neutrals

 

[Karen-W]

Presuming Safonova is healthy and at a similar level to where she was 4 years ago, I expect she'll qualify for one of the 5 women's spots (along with Petrosian, Hendrickx & Gubanova). That is going to be one fierce competition for the fifth & final spot up for grabs in Beijing.

Pairs - this makes the task of the US & CHN entries a lot less stressful; it should also give Holichenko/Darenskyi a really good chance to qualify.

Men - no changes in my post-Worlds handicapping of the field. Gumennik should easily qualify; FRA, ISR & KOR each have solid men; fifth spot up for grabs.

Dance - I can't see the BLR team earning one of the 4 spots available. ReedAmbru will take one of the spots; the other three spots - fight between about 9 other teams for the other 3 spots (citizenship questions notwithstanding) - Harris/Chan, Tali/Lafornara, Ignateva/Szemko, Reitan/Majorov, Yoshida/Morita, Soucisse/Firus, Val/Kazimov, Tkachenko/Kiliakov and either Larson/Kapran or Pidgaina/Koval for UKR.

 

[Marta24]

Presuming Safonova is healthy and at a similar level to where she was 4 years ago, I expect she'll qualify for one of the 5 women's spots (along with Petrosian, Hendrickx & Gubanova). That is going to be one fierce competition for the fifth & final spot up for grabs in Beijing.

Pairs - this makes the task of the US & CHN entries a lot less stressful; it should also give Holichenko/Darenskyi a really good chance to qualify.

Men - no changes in my post-Worlds handicapping of the field. Gumennik should easily qualify; FRA, ISR & KOR each have solid men; fifth spot up for grabs.

Dance - I can't see the BLR team earning one of the 4 spots available. ReedAmbru will take one of the spots; the other three spots - fight between about 9 other teams for the other 3 spots (citizenship questions notwithstanding) - Harris/Chan, Tali/Lafornara, Ignateva/Szemko, Reitan/Majorov, Yoshida/Morita, Soucisse/Firus, Val/Kazimov, Tkachenko/Kiliakov and either Larson/Kapran or Pidgaina/Koval for UKR.

Pidgaina is too young to move up. It will probably be Pinchuk/Pogorielov or as you posted Larson/Kapran.

The ice dance qualification is really interesting without a Russian team. So many great teams I would like to see at the Olympics that I have a hard time to decide who I would prefer.

 

[farahfan]

Pairs - this makes the task of the US & CHN entries a lot less stressful; it should also give Holichenko/Darenskyi a really good chance to qualify.

Ooo, this is exciting for pairs. Japan could qualify, too. They've been working on their triple twist.
Kinda excited to see which pairs show up at the Asian Open Trophy, could be an early testing ground for China, Japan, and Philippines.
Now, if the war in Ukraine ends before September and if Russians are admitted back to competition, they send a pair to Beijing, right?

 

[TAHbKA]

So apparently SteBukin were the main, Kaganovskaya/Nekrasov sub, MishGal main, BoiKoz sub

 

[PRlady]

Weren’t B/K on the verge of a breakup? I don’t know who the next Russian pair is, but both the top teams were questionable. Not going to miss them at all.

Also happy there’s another slot open for a deserving dance team.

Petrosian I only saw as a junior and she was a typical product of the Eteri factory back then. Given the trauma and mess around Valieva etc, I wish another non-Eteri Russian woman had gotten the slot.

 

[farahfan]

Weren’t B/K on the verge of a breakup? I don’t know who the next Russian pair is, but both the top teams were questionable. Not going to miss them at all.

Also happy there’s another slot open for a deserving dance team.

Petrosian I only saw as a junior and she was a typical product of the Eteri factory back then. Given the trauma and mess around Valieva etc, I wish another non-Eteri Russian woman had gotten the slot.

I kinda fear for Petrosian cause the hopes of the nation are now pinned on her, and she's just a 17 year old with no international experience.

 

[Karen-W]

Ooo, this is exciting for pairs. Japan could qualify, too. They've been working on their triple twist.
Kinda excited to see which pairs show up at the Asian Open Trophy, could be an early testing ground for China, Japan, and Philippines.
Now, if the war in Ukraine ends before September and if Russians are admitted back to competition, they send a pair to Beijing, right?

I'm sorry, but Nagaoka/Moriguchi have to get more than a 3tw in order to have a legitimate chance at beating Holichenko/Darenskyi.

Why would any pairs teams show up at Asian Open? It's not a Challenger and both NagaMori and GamKor train in North America. I'd bet on them showing up for either John Nicks PCI or Kinoshita Group Cup as those are the two Challengers with a pairs competition before the OQE.

And, the war needs to end sooner than September in order for the ISU to lift competition restrictions on RUS/BLR. Entry deadline for competitions is 3-4 weeks ahead of the competition dates, which would mean mid-August. ISU Council also needs to formally lift the ban, which can only occur at an ISU Council meeting - those are held the 1st full week of the month, so, the war would need to be over by the beginning of August and that's an absolute best case scenario. Realistically, I think it would need to be over by the 3rd week of July, in about 9 weeks, for the ban to be lifted in time for any RUS pairs or dance teams to be allowed at the OQE. That same timeline also would apply to the JGPs and September Challengers. Add an extra 4 weeks for the October Challengers and the GPs (since the only way to get on the GP Alt list is by winning a Challenger).

 

[rfisher]

Weren’t B/K on the verge of a breakup? I don’t know who the next Russian pair is, but both the top teams were questionable. Not going to miss them at all.

Also happy there’s another slot open for a deserving dance team.

Petrosian I only saw as a junior and she was a typical product of the Eteri factory back then. Given the trauma and mess around Valieva etc, I wish another non-Eteri Russian woman had gotten the slot.

That wasn't going to happen. Petrosian has two quads and a 3A. Gumennik had an excellent season last year. I'd have liked to see Dikidzhi compete against Malinin, but it is what it is. Maybe worlds if Malinin continues to compete. They are both young and can hopefully go in 2030 if the world is still spinning.

 

[tony]

I'm sorry, but Nagaoka/Moriguchi have to get more than a 3tw in order to have a legitimate chance at beating Holichenko/Darenskyi.

Completely false.

Nagaoka/Moriguchi can literally jump their way to a better score seeing how there's both an SP + LP. I haven't looked, but I'm quite confident that their LP score from one of the Grand Prix was around 120 and that was even with mistakes on both throws IIRC.

Clean up a little bit and gain more consistency, and I don't see why they wouldn't be favorites for a spot.

 

[Karen-W]

That wasn't going to happen. Petrosian has two quads and a 3A. Gumennik had an excellent season last year. I'd have liked to see Dikidzhi compete against Malinin, but it is what it is. Maybe worlds if Malinin continues to compete. They are both young and can hopefully go in 2030 if the world is still spinning.

Yeah, I can't wait to see what an ISU tech panel does with Petrosian's jumps. Or if she even has them by next winter.

Both Petrosian and Gumennik were the right choices for the AIN spots.

 

[Karen-W]

Completely false.

Nagaoka/Moriguchi can literally jump their way to a better score seeing how there's both an SP + LP. I haven't looked, but I'm quite confident that their LP score from one of the Grand Prix was around 120 and that was even with mistakes on both throws IIRC.

Clean up a little bit and gain more consistency, and I don't see why they wouldn't be favorites for a spot.

The problem with this is they are wildly inconsistent, even on the SBS jumps. Their SB is 174.76 from 4CCs, which is higher than HolDar, and they consistently were scoring in the 170-175 range last season on the GP, so maybe they'll beat HolDar, but I wouldn't bank on it. Of course, HolDar would do themselves a huge solid if they relocated to IceLab or Salzburg for the summer to train in a more stable environment, so I suppose it's a coin toss as to which team will earn the 3rd spot.

 

[caseyedwards]

I kinda fear for Petrosian cause the hopes of the nation are now pinned on her, and she's just a 17 year old with no international experience.

She has said over and over and in many interviews there is no point to skating for her if there is no Olympics. She is only skating for Olympics. “What’s the point in skating if you don’t go to Olympics?” Almost exact quote. Being frightened by Olympics would be strange!

 

[caseyedwards]

Yeah, I can't wait to see what an ISU tech panel does with Petrosian's jumps. Or if she even has them by next winter.

Both Petrosian and Gumennik were the right choices for the AIN spots.

Skating scores is a great site because you can add carrots and negative goe. I added carrots to Petrosians 3A and 4t and 4t combo and added negative goe and I till got a score that would put her in top 5! You can do it right now. Add carrots to all the jumps. Base value is still amazing! I even added e to her flips too. Now she can’t pop or be << but she can easily do 3A< and 4t< and 4t< +2t.

I also reduced her pcs to a very bad horrible 8

Still top 5 and can win free skate if she didn’t ur all ultra c

Dropping 3A for 2a If scared would be great


If she does have a quad flip ur she wins easy

 

[farahfan]

She has said over and over and in many interviews there is no point to skating for her if there is no Olympics. She is only skating for Olympics. “What’s the point in skating if you don’t go to Olympics?” Almost exact quote. Being frightened by Olympics would be strange!

I don't doubt her resolve at all. She's a fighter. But saying you're gonna do great on the biggest stage without having had the previous experience is a goal to frighten anybody.

 

[Karen-W]

She has said over and over and in many interviews there is no point to skating for her if there is no Olympics. She is only skating for Olympics. “What’s the point in skating if you don’t go to Olympics?” Almost exact quote. Being frightened by Olympics would be strange!

Sure, but that's a tremendous amount of pressure she's putting on herself. Then add in the pressure of the entire Russian nation... That's a lot to navigate in front of the entire world. I have a lot more confidence in the likes of Kaori & Alysa to deliver in the moment than Adelia.

Skating scores is a great site because you can add carrots and negative goe. I added carrots to Petrosians 3A and 4t and 4t combo and added negative goe and I till got a score that would put her in top 5! You can do it right now. Add carrots to all the jumps. Base value is still amazing! I even added e to her flips too. Now she can’t pop or be << but she can easily do 3A< and 4t< and 4t< +2t.

I didn't realize SkatingScores had that type of functionality. Is it just on the TES side or can you fiddle with PCS? That's where I think she's going to take a bigger hit because I don't think her programs are all that interesting or impressive. She may very well finish top 5 or even sneak in for a bronze - I just don't think she's getting anywhere near what she'll need in PCS or after the TES review is finished to challenge for gold.

 

[Amy L]

Weren’t B/K on the verge of a breakup? I don’t know who the next Russian pair is, but both the top teams were questionable. Not going to miss them at all.

BoiKoz have messy personalities but who knows if they're "allowed" to even break up. They've been successful in the past and if the RuFed is allowed to compete at some point in the future they'd want BoiKoz to hit the ground running.

The third ranked Russian pair is probably Khabibulina/Knyazhuk. They are solid and fairly boring, but they have all the singles jumps up to the lutz.

 

[caseyedwards]

Sure, but that's a tremendous amount of pressure she's putting on herself. Then add in the pressure of the entire Russian nation... That's a lot to navigate in front of the entire world. I have a lot more confidence in the likes of Kaori & Alysa to deliver in the moment than Adelia.

I didn't realize SkatingScores had that type of functionality. Is it just on the TES side or can you fiddle with PCS? That's where I think she's going to take a bigger hit because I don't think her programs are all that interesting or impressive. She may very well finish top 5 or even sneak in for a bronze - I just don't think she's getting anywhere near what she'll need in PCS or after the TES review is finished to challenge for gold.

I edited my post with more. You can change pcs even to something horrible like 7.75!

 

[Karen-W]

I edited my post with more. You can change pcs even to something horrible like 7.75!

Thanks. So, are you going to play with Alysa's scores to add in a 3A like we know she's been attempting in practices? Because I don't think Adelia even with a 4F beats Alysa with a 3A.

 

[Andrea82]

And, the war needs to end sooner than September in order for the ISU to lift competition restrictions on RUS/BLR. Entry deadline for competitions is 3-4 weeks ahead of the competition dates, which would mean mid-August. ISU Council also needs to formally lift the ban, which can only occur at an ISU Council meeting - those are held the 1st full week of the month, so, the war would need to be over by the beginning of August and that's an absolute best case scenario.

Last summer the ISU Council didn't meet in August. They went from the June meetings to the September meeting.
This year so far they have scheduled meetings in early July.

Yes, I think so. The Russian names aren't listed in alphabetical order, unlike the Belarusian ones.

Found these results from the Union Cup 2024 competition in Minsk last December - https://figure.skating.by/competition/2024-25/Union_Cup/index.htm

Puzanau is their top senior man - scored 234.56 and placed 2nd behind Gumennik who scored 298.99; Barakhouski is their top junior man - scored 221.67.

Safanova did not compete, but I'd guess she's still their top senior woman; Sidarenka scored 141.49 - if she winds up being their OQE entry, she's not earning a spot.

Interestingly, they didn't submit any of their senior dance teams, but instead went with their top junior dance team, who scored 148.85 at the same competition.

At their 2025 Nationals, Safonova scored 201.86 points. Sidorenko was 4th with 156.44

Skating Scores: Latest Figure Skating Results, Scores, Rankings & Statistics

The best resource for Figure Skating scores and stats on the web.

skatingscores.com

 

[Andrey aka Pushkin]

Lol, the real question was not why the Russians were allowed, but rather why they were disqualified in the first place - and no one had a comprehensive answer other than "they are evil", which is a non starter for a meta-national organization such as IOC.
But apparently there is a legal answer to that; so now the question is indeed why they were allowed back - nothing changed since.

Why the Belorussians were disqualified - is another question, and there's zero justification.

Sending Mishina/Gallamov and Stepanova/Bukin as first number was dumb beyond any reason. I question myself whether it might have been a "red herring" of a sort - sending 3 problematic candidates, counting that IOC wouldn't have disqualified all of them, and that way getting Petrosyan in.

Also, just to contribute, this is gumennik a.k.a "taiga bean goose":