No flag, anthem or parade: An isolated Winter Olympics beckons for Russian athletes

TERSKOL, Russia (AP) — Every time Nikita Filippov races, it's an uphill struggle. At the Olympics, even more so.

The 23-year-old from Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka peninsula is a medal contender in the rugged new Olympic sport of ski mountaineering — sprinting up a slope and then skiing back down.

At the Milan Cortina Olympics, he'll be one of the few Russians competing as “Individual Neutral Athletes." That means they formally aren't representing their country. They cannot wear any Russian symbols and won't hear the Russian national anthem if they win a gold medal.

"It gives me more competitive zeal in the race because I want to prove to everyone that we're strong, even without the flag or anthem and can beat anyone,” Filippov told The Associated Press at a training camp in the Caucasus mountains. “I think everyone knows where we're from and maybe it even attracts more attention.”

Many sports barred Russian athletes from competing as part of the diplomatic fallout after Russian troops moved into Ukraine four days after the last Winter Olympics in 2022. Ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the International Olympic Committee gradually opened up paths for athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus to qualify with neutral status.

Fifteen Russians competed as neutral athletes in Paris, winning their only medal in tennis.

The number could be even lower in Milan Cortina. Like in Paris, they won’t be able to parade as a delegation in the opening ceremony.

Filippov, the first Russian “neutral” athlete to qualify a spot for Milan Cortina, said that didn’t bother him.

“I’ll get more rest and have more strength in the race than other athletes,” he said.

How many Russians will join Filippov at the the games remains unclear. In December, Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev told broadcaster Match TV that he expected a maximum of 15 or 20 athletes could qualify, but only three Russians and one Belarusian have so far received and accepted invitations.

The IOC and its new president Kirsty Coventry, favor allowing Russians to compete as neutrals in most events, though not team sports like hockey, meaning Alexander Ovechkin and other Russian NHL stars won't play in Milan.

Figure skaters Adeliia Petrosian and Petr Gumennik could be medal contenders and qualified in September. A handful of Russians are likely to compete in other sports, depending on qualification rankings and IOC approval.

Cross-country skiers Savelii Korostelev and Dariya Nepryaeva produced top-10 finishes in the Tour de Ski series over the holidays, shortly after they returned to international competition for the first time since 2022.

Athletes are ineligible for neutral status from the IOC if they are under contract with Russian or Belarusian security agencies or the military, or if they have expressed support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have disputed whether some of those Russians competing in Olympic qualifiers truly meet the neutral restrictions.

Most winter sports bodies have allowed Russians to compete in such qualifiers in recent weeks, amid a series of legal defeats for policies banning Russian athletes.

Some have faced additional obstacles. No Russians competed at last week's luge World Cup in neighboring Latvia after the country's foreign minister banned 14 Russian athletes from entering the country. Two Russian ski jumpers have missed a series of World Cup events across Europe because of visa issues.

Russian athletes haven't competed under their country's flag at a Winter Olympics since 2014, when Russia hosted a doping-tainted Games in Sochi.

Over years of legal battles, fallout from those drug cases meant Russians had to compete in Pyeongchang in 2018 as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” and in Beijing in 2022 as the Russian Olympic Committee, both times without the national anthem.

The World Anti-Doping Agency still lists Russia’s national testing body as “non-compliant” and says it can’t visit Russia for in-person checks on its performance.

Russia denied the state was complicit in doping.

Four days after the Beijing closing ceremony, Moscow launched what it called a “special military operation” in Ukraine and a new wave of bans and sanctions from sports bodies followed.

There could also be continued scrutiny of Russian athletes' welfare after a doping scandal in figure skating overshadowed the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

Petrosian, the figure skater, is coached by Eteri Tutberidze, who coached Kamila Valieva, the then-15-year-old star skater whose legal battles over a positive drug test ended in a ban.

Valieva's entourage was criticized by then-IOC president Thomas Bach at the 2022 Olympics for “tremendous coldness" in the skater's treatment, without mentioning Tutberidze by name.

Petrosian is the latest in a series of young Tutberidze-trained skaters with spectacular, high-scoring, high-risk jumps. She's one of the few female skaters in history to land a quadruple jump in competition, but her limited international experience as a neutral means she's yet to do that outside of Russia.

Ellingworth reported from Duesseldorf, Germany. Vladimir Kondrashov in Terskol, Brian Melley in London and Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Russian ski mountaineer Nikita Filippov trains with his father, senior trainer of Russian ski-mountaineering team Alexey Filippov, at Mount Elbrus foothills in Terskol village, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

Russian ski mountaineer Nikita Filippov trains at Mount Elbrus foothills in Terskol village, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

Russian ski mountaineer Nikita Filippov speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at Mount Elbrus foothills in Terskol village, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

Russian ski mountaineer Nikita Filippov poses during an interview with The Associated Press at Mount Elbrus foothills in Terskol village, the Kabardino-Balkariian Republic, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

Russian ski mountaineer Nikita Filippov poses during an interview with The Associated Press at Mount Elbrus foothills in Terskol village, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

ALTENMARKT-ZAUCHENSEE, Austria (AP) — Lindsey Vonn showed again Saturday she is the standout downhill racer in this Olympic season.

Vonn won her second World Cup downhill in four races this season, raising expectations in this remarkable comeback racing at age 41 with her right knee rebuilt using titanium implants.

The United States star was 0.37 seconds faster than Kajsa Vickhoff Lie in tricky, overcast conditions. Vonn was jumping up cheering in the leader’s box when her teammate Jacqueline Wiles raced into third place, 0.48 back.

On a shortened course that took her fewer than 67 seconds to complete, Vonn still clocked 130 kph (81 mph) for one of the fastest speeds any women racer will hit this season.

“It feels amazing. I try to enjoy every single second I am out here because it is just so fun to go fast,” she said.

Vonn crossed the finish line with a look of determined satisfaction, punching the air with her right fist and nodding with short, sharp movements of her head.

“I knew what it was going to take to win today," she said. "It was a sprint and I had to give it everything I had, definitely had to risk a little bit.”

With each victory, Vonn extends her record as the oldest race winner in the 60-season history of the World Cup circuit. Her 84th career win on the circuit was her record-extending 45th in downhill.

The United States star later made a family video phone call alongside her coach Aksel Lund Svindal, the men’s downhill champion at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics where Vonn took bronze in the women’s race.

Vonn was Olympic downhill champion at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and shapes as a strong contender for the next gold medal race scheduled Feb. 8 on the first Sunday at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

It is at the storied Cortina d’Ampezzo slope where Vonn has excelled in her career, including a World Cup downhill win eight years ago where Wiles also was third.

“Being on the podium again with her is super special,” Wiles said.

Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic champion, was only 17th Saturday trailing Vonn by 0.97.

The defending Olympic champion, Corinne Suter, made her season debut Saturday after injuries and was more than a second slower than Vonn.

The U.S. team had five racers in the top 20 with world champion Breezy Johnson seventh, 21-year-old Allison Mollin a career-best 14th and Keely Cashman tied for 18th, less than a second behind Vonn.

The race was delayed for 25 minutes while Austrian prospect Magdalena Egger was airlifted from the course after a season-ending fall and crash into the safety nets. She stood up with a bloodied nose, and later tests showed extensive damage to her right knee including a torn ACL, the Austrian ski federation said.

Egger was runner-up in Vonn’s season-opening downhill win last month at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Vonn extended her lead in the season-long World Cup downhill standings, after finishing second and third in the other races. Saturday’s race was the fourth of nine scheduled downhills in the World Cup this season.

She earned 100 race points and now leads by 129 from Emma Aicher of Germany, who placed sixth Saturday. Vonn is chasing a ninth World Cup downhill season title a full 10 years after her eighth, when she also won in Zauchensee.

“I felt like I was skiing better in super-G this summer," she said, "but when I got to the races in St Moritz everything was working really well right from the start.”

On Sunday, Vonn will start in a super-G that should be on a longer course than the downhill.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

United States' Lindsey Vonn sprays sparkling wine as she celebrates on podium after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Lindsey Vonn is airborne as she speeds down the course to win an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Austria's Magdalena Egger is lifted on a helicopter after crashing during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Austria's Magdalena Egger gets medical assistance after crashing during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Lindsey Vonn is airborne as he speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Lindsey Vonn reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)