D The Russians are back. For the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, names of Russian athletes appeared again on the start lists of the cross-country World Cups. Sawelij Korostelew and Darja Neprjajewa had already set out for the tracks in Davos before it was confirmed that they would be admitted by the International Ski Federation (FIS).
After the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne decided that the FIS athletes from Russia could not be barred from participating in qualification competitions for the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Italy, they had counted firmly on their eligibility to start.
The 22-year-old Korostelew and the one-year-older Neprjajewa were then indeed, together with the freestyle skier Anastasia Tatalina, the first three skiers from Russia to be granted start rights as neutral athletes.
Earlier they were checked to see whether they belonged to the military or had engaged in propaganda for the war, as the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee require. And as is almost always the case in such instances, they were admitted, although there are certainly doubts about their neutral stance toward Russia’s war course.
The Search for the Z
Older rosters list both Korostelew and Tatalina as members of military sports clubs. On current member lists, their names no longer appear. Tatalina also once posted a message with the Z symbol—the emblem carried by the Russian invasion forces into Ukraine—accompanied by a heart and is labeled by Ukrainian activists as a supporter of the war. How many athletes were checked, the FIS did not disclose.
For Korostelew and the year-older Neprjajewa, the trip to Davos has certainly paid off. The young man from Perm finished 25th in the 10-kilometer freestyle. Neprjajewa finished 20th at the same distance among the women. With that, both have enough FIS points to qualify for the Olympics. So you will see them again in February in Val di Fiemme.
This was indeed celebrated in the Russian sports press, even though many would have hoped for better results from the two on the track. They could not qualify for the sprint competitions. They had, in particular, been expected a lot from Korostelew, the 2022 Junior World Champion over 10 kilometers in classical technique. In the races around the domestic Russia Cup, he had recently inflicted several defeats on the long-dominant three-time Olympic champion from Beijing, Alexander Bolshunov.
Norwegian-Russian Cross-Country Skiing War
His greatest rival at the 2022 Games, Norway’s double Olympic champion Johannes Klæbo, remarked on Korostelew’s performance in Davos that it is not so easy to rejoin the world elite, a fact that Russian sports portals have lavishly mocked after Klæbo’s exit in the sprint quarterfinals.
In Russia, Klæbo is regarded as a kind of state foe. The five-time World Cup overall winner had made himself unpopular at the Beijing Games with hints about the doping propensity of Russian athletes. After the war began in 2022, he repeatedly spoke out against the return of Russian distance skiers to the World Cup.
For Russia’s national coach Yegor Sorin, Klæbo is in fact the main person responsible for Russia’s ban. The exchanges between the Russian cross-country camp and the Norwegian superstar have overshadowed the cross-country events in Beijing. At the Games in Italy they could enter a new round.
