Looking ahead to 2025 ISU competitions & the 2026 Olympics

[Elizabeth]

The ISU Council has made some determinations at their latest meeting regarding the final qualifying event for the 2026 Olympics and regarding the 2025-2026 Grand Prix events:

[Elizabeth]

From ISU Comm 2680: https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azuref ... 641740.pdf

The ISU has granted permission for Russian and Belarusian skaters to take part in the Olympic Qualifying Competition in 2025/26 as Individual Neutral Athletes.

There are significant restrictions detailed in the document, including:

• Any expression (verbal or non-verbal, explicit or implicit), at any time since the start of the war, including pro-war demonstrations, public statements, wearing any symbol (for example the “Z”) will be considered acts of support and disqualify them from participation.
• Anyone who is contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security services is also disqualified.
• Nominated athletes and support personnel must sign a declaration form including links to all their social media accounts.
• Nominated athletes and their support personnel must not have associated with with any person serving a period of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation.
• If the ISU becomes aware of a breach of the eligibility criteria the ISU may withdraw their status.
• Neutral athletes will not participate in the Olympic team event.
• Russia and Belarus can each nominate one female, one male, one pair team, and one ice dance team for the Qualifying competition.

Note that, as mentioned in the post above, the Qualifying competition will take place in China, a location that will permit these athletes to travel there and compete under the restrictions. It is interesting that Russian nationals are currently taking place. Presumably the results there will determine who will be sent to the Qualifying Competition.

A couple of extracts from the document and the associated Q&A document: https://isudam.blob.core.windows.net/is ... 416256.pdf

[Elizabeth]

[kittykins]

Thanks for all the info. Wow, it seems incredible that the Winter Olympics are only a year away! We've been talking about the skating scandal involving Kamila Valeryevna Valieva all this time. I'm unclear if she will be eligible to compete in the 2026 Games, but it seems not. I'm assuming Eteri Tutberidze would not be eligible to coach, based on the restrictions? It was something else to hear people in the audience groan when they saw her at Worlds in Montreal.

Well, I love the Olympics so am looking forward to them, but let's hope there is less drama this time. "I accidentally came in contact with the banned substance" is the most common excuse in the book.

[Elizabeth]

As I posted in another thread, there will be a qualifying competition for the last of the available Olympic spots, over and above those "earned" at Worlds 2025. It will be held in Beijing in September 2025.

The various ISU communications about this set forth a number of conditions, including:

Only one neutral athlete (including one pair in Pair Skating and one couple in Ice Dance) from the ISU Members in Russia (Russian Skating Union and the Figure Skating Federation of Russia) and only one neutral athlete (including one pair for Pair Skating and one couple for Ice Dance) from the Skating Union of Belarus may be eligible to participate per event in designated OQS competitions, with no relay or team participation.

The following protective measures remain valid and the following strict conditions will apply:

• A strict and comprehensive Focused Olympic Anti-Doping Program will be put in place.
• Athletes and their Support Personnel will undergo careful examination of public statements and appearances to see if individuals may have supported the invasion of Ukraine.
• Athletes and their Support Personnel shall not be contractually linked with the Russian or Belarusian military or with any other national security agency.
• Full compliance with all ISU Statutes, including the ISU Code of Ethics.
• Absence of flags, anthems and all other representations or references to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus at the designated OQS.
• If a Nominated Athlete breaches the Eligibility Criteria or other conditions of AIN participation, the ISU Council may withdraw the status of AIN and/or their Support Personnel. No substitution will be allowed.
• No ISU Events and International Competitions shall be held in the territories of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.
• The new conditions do not apply to Officials, who remain banned from ISU competitions and the designated OQS competitions.

4. Eligibility Criteria
[...]
b. Nominated Athletes by the FSFR or RSU must have held the Russian passport prior to the
date of adoption of the Council emergency decision of March 1, 2022. Nominated Athletes by
the BLR must also have held the Belarusian passport prior to March 1, 2022.

5. Figure Skating
[...]
d. There is no consideration of AIN for participation in the OWG 2026 Figure Skating Team Event.

For more information, there are a couple of ISU documents:
https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azuref ... 413465.pdf
https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azuref ... 641740.pdf

[Elizabeth]

There is a "test event" competition taking place in the arena to be used for the 2026 Olympics - the Road to 26 Trophy.

There is no live stream but this is the link to the Entries/Start Orders/Results: https://results.isu.org/results/season2425/owg2026-tev/

There are no Canadian entries. Most of the entries are from Europe but the USA has sent some skaters not involved with 4CC this week.

Outside & inside views:


The event is meant to test the facilities, equipment, etc. in preparation for next year. It's also training for some of the volunteers, I believe.

[Elizabeth]

Podium results & photos from the Road to 26 Trophy
Men's Podium
Kevin Aymoz
Nikolaj Memola
Sota Yamamoto


Women's Podium
Niina Petrokina
Isabeau Levito
Lara Naki Gutmann


Pairs' Podium
Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini
Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman
Sofiia Holichenko and Artem Darenskyi


Ice Dance Podium
Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis
Caroline Green and Michael Parsons
Jennifer Janse van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan


ISU Press Release on the event: https://isu-skating.com/figure-skating/ ... -in-milan/