Russian skaters are back, and already on the podium
The ISU let Russian and Belarusian skaters return as neutral athletes from the 2026-27 season. By early November they had won Grand Prix medals in men's, women's and pairs.
Skaters from Russia and Belarus were barred from international competition in 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine. A handful were cleared to compete as individual neutral athletes at the 2026 Olympics. On June 30, 2026, the ISU went further and opened all its events to eligible Russian and Belarusian skaters from the 2026-27 season.
The rules
- Skaters compete as neutral athletes ("AIN" in results), with no flag, national team uniform or anthem.
- Each skater is assessed individually. Anyone serving in the military or security services, who has taken part in the war, or who has publicly supported it since February 2022 is not eligible.
- Every skater signs an acknowledgement agreeing to the neutrality conditions, including no political messaging.
- Neutral teams may enter team events such as the World Team Trophy.
- The ISU says it will relax the restrictions further if there are no safety or integrity problems, and can tighten them again if there are.
Early results
The returning skaters made an immediate impact:
- Vladislav Dikidzhi scored 312.79 at the Denis Ten Memorial in October, the fourth-highest men's total ever under the current judging system. He then took silver at the Cup of China, with Evgeni Semenenko taking bronze.
- Alexandra Ignatova, the 2022 Olympic silver medalist (formerly Trusova), took silver in Shenzhen in her comeback season.
- Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov, the 2021 World champions, won the Cup of China pairs, and Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii took silver at the Grand Prix de France.
Their return also explains some gaps in the record books. On our top skaters tables, Russian scores from 2022 to 2025 are missing, and many of the returning skaters do not yet have enough recent results to rank high in the ISU World Standings.