Russian luge athletes will be banned from competing at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics even as individuals with neutral status, the sliding sport's governing body decided Wednesday.
The International Luge Federation has kept Russian athletes from competing in major international luge events — such as World Cups and world championships — since the 2021-22 season in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war.
At a meeting of the FIL congress in Tampere, Finland, officials voted 24-7, with one invalid ballot, to extend that ban that was first put in place in 2022 and extended again in 2024. A second vote then took place on the notion of letting Russian sliders try to compete under a neutral flag at the upcoming Olympics; that was defeated 24-8.
“The Congress has made its position clear,” FIL president Einars Fogelis said. “This outcome reflects our collective responsibility to uphold fair and safe competition. We fully respect the diversity of views within our community, especially from our athletes.”
The Milan-Cortina Olympics open on Feb. 6.
“The vote today by the FIL to exclude Russian athletes from competing this season, including the Olympic Games, was not made arbitrarily or without deep discussion — information and input from the athletes, FIL members, as well as event organizers was collected and considered," USA Luge CEO Scott Riewald said Wednesday. "Ultimately, the decision was made in the name of athlete safety and ensuring fairness of competition.”
It’s not clear if the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation will follow luge's lead. Russian sliders have also not competed in those sports at the top international levels since the end of the 2021-22 season.
Also unclear: if any Russian sleds would have had a legitimate hope of qualifying even if they were allowed to try. Without being on the circuits in more than three years, it’s impossible to assess which athletes would be competitive enough to secure Olympic bids.
There were 28 sliders from Russia — 10 in luge, six in skeleton and 12 in bobsled — at the 2022 Beijing Games, though they competed under the Russian Olympic Committee flag and not the actual Russian flag. That was part of the sanctions levied against Russia for the state-sponsored doping scandal that overshadowed the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
The Beijing Games closed four days before the attack on Ukraine started, and Russian athlete Tatyana Ivanova won a bronze medal in women's singles luge.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Russia and military ally Belarus were excluded from team sports but athletes in individual sports could apply for neutral status to compete. A total of 32 accepted invitations from the International Olympic Committee after passing eligibility tests that included not publicly supporting the war and not having ties to military and state security agencies.
The FIL reviewed the results of an anonymous polling of luge athletes who were surveyed about the prospect of letting Russian athletes resume sliding. It said the survey “revealed a broad range of concerns and opinions regarding safety, Olympic quotas, anti-doping compliance, and fairness.”
“Athletes hold a wide range of views,” FIL athletes’ commission chair Leon Felderer said. “There are many concerns and arguments on both sides.”
AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this story.
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FILE - Tatyana Ivanova, of Russian Olympic Committee, celebrates winning the bronze medal in the luge women's singles at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - Viktoriia Demchenko of Russia competes during the women's race at the Luge World Cup, a test event for the 2022 Winter Olympics, at the Yanqing National Sliding Center in Beijing, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
