The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has confirmed it has not received any appeals from Russian figure skaters Kamila Valieva, Mark Kondratiuk, Aleksandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin against a decision by the International Skating Union (ISU) denying them neutral athlete status. The confirmation was reported by Sovetsky Sport, citing the Russian state news agency TASS.
The ISU had ruled that the four skaters do not meet the requirements to compete internationally as neutral athletes. Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev had earlier said the skaters intended to challenge the ISU's refusal before CAS.
A CAS press office statement said that, as of now, the court has not received any applications from Russian figure skaters against the International Skating Union concerning neutral status.
Background on the neutral status rules
The Court of Arbitration for Sport, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is the highest judicial body for resolving disputes in international sport. Russian athletes have been largely absent from international figure skating competitions since 2022, when they were suspended following the invasion of Ukraine.
Starting with the 2026-27 season, the ISU has agreed to allow Russian figure skaters to take part in international competitions under a neutral status, a designation that permits individual athletes to compete without representing their country under its flag or anthem.
Kamila Valieva won the team figure skating event at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics before being embroiled in a doping case. Mark Kondratiuk and the ice dance pair of Aleksandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin are also established figures on the Russian competitive circuit.
Rare exceptions since the suspension
Since the 2022 suspension, Russian skaters have almost entirely missed out on international events, with two exceptions: Adeliya Petrosyan and Pyotr Gumennik, who competed at the Winter Olympics in Italy and finished sixth. The Milan-Cortina Games took place earlier in 2026.
No further procedural steps have been announced by CAS, the ISU or the Russian skaters involved.
