The Russian Biathlon Federation filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the exclusion of its athletes from Olympic qualifying competitions.
They filed the complaint on Wednesday, while the CAS itself has not yet issued a statement. This was reported by the DPA agency based on information from the Russian state news agency TASS.
Russian and Belarusian biathletes are banned from participating in international competitions from 2022. He came after the start of the war against Ukraine. The International Biathlon Union (IBU) confirmed the suspension in August 2025.
After some skiers and snowboarders from Russia and Belarus successfully appealed to CAS to be allowed to participate in Olympic qualification, provided they compete under a neutral flag, the biathlon federation is now hoping for similar success.
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However, experts consider it highly unlikely that CAS will grant them the status of neutral athletes for several reasons.
“There is no regulation in biathlon for the participation of neutral athletes. Athletes applying for the status of neutral athletes must not, among other things, publicly support Russia’s war against Ukraine and must not have any ties to the military or state security forces. However, most Russian biathletes are formally members of the Russian armed forces.
For example, Eduard Latypov, a three-time bronze medalist from the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, has the rank of lieutenant,” reports the DPA agency.
Another reason is that Olympic quota places have already been allocated. Points in order for free cards for national federations without quota places (maximum two per gender for a federation) can be collected at World Cup races until mid-January. However, Russians are excluded from the events.
