– The return for Russian athletes to international competition has become more difficult, says Jelena Välbe, Russia’s skiing president according to MatchTV. Currently, the committees of the International Skiing and Boarding Federation (FIS) have their committee meetings in Zurich. Although Russian and Belarusian athletes are banned from competition, this does not apply to their countries’ delegates. – Yesterday we met the president of the International Skiing and Boarding Sports Confederation (FIS) in private. Before the mobilization and the votes, neutral status was considered, but now it is ruled out, says Välbe in a video post shown at a major sports seminar in Russia. She is referring to the referendums in the occupied Ukrainian counties of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson. It has been announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will announce the annexed areas on Friday. At the same time, Putin has announced the partial mobilization of at least 300,000 soldiers to step up the warfare in Ukraine. FIS PRESIDENT: Johan Eliasch. Photo: JOE KLAMAR / AFP – The fact that it took a mobilization from Putin for FIS president Eliasch to realize the realities of the situation is unfortunately not very confidence-inspiring for the moral standards of international skiing, says news’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt. Pointing to the competition Last week during the Forum Nordicum conference in Planice, the FIS’ general secretary, Michel Vion, announced that it seemed that a Russian return could be imminent. He talked about that it could happen as early as December. Now it seems to be completely out of the picture: – The situation makes a return very complicated. But we are optimists and believe in the best. Everyone has already started counting losses. It is obvious that without Russian participation, attention to the competitions will be lower, says Välbe. – The FIS president and the rest of the management in FIS have obviously resigned in their obvious hope of including Russians and Belarusians in one form or another in the coming winter’s competitions. And it was about time, and should of course have been done long ago, Saltvedt points out. The former Olympic champion, Julija Tsepalova, threw herself into the debate after it was suggested from the Norwegian side that they could boycott the World Cup and World Cup, if the Russians let their guard down. – Norwegians have always been like this – they made negative statements, protested and didn’t talk about their own. I can say that cross-country skiing, and sports all over the world, cannot exist without Russia, Chepalova tells Metaratings. – Give each other hugs PREVIOUS RUNNERS: Aleksandr Legkov. Photo: SERGEI KARPUKHIN / Reuters The former cross-country star, Aleksandr Legkov, also points to Russia’s high level in cross-country skiing. – Maybe FIS even wants to see us compete now. The question is whether other countries will declare that they will not participate if our athletes are allowed to start. The talks will probably take place in this format, says Legkov to RIA Novosti, who sees no reason to speculate further before a decision is made on 22 October. CLOSED DOOR: The International Ski Federation, FIS, is holding committee meetings in Zurich this week. Photo: Fredrik Tombra / news The skiing president, who was previously politically active for Putin’s party, describes the atmosphere at the meetings here in Zurich as normal and professional. – The Norwegians wrote that they would boycott because of the presence of the Russian delegation at the meetings, but they are here. Everyone is talking and giving each other hugs, says Välbe. Almost all the Norwegian delegates, with the exception of a few, have gone home. On Thursday, Clas Brede Bråthen left a committee meeting because there was Belarusian participation.
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Russian participation excluded – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
