FIS Respects CAS Decision Regarding Russian Athletes

The International Ski Federation (FIS) fully respects the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decisions announced today.

The decisions upheld the sanctions of 11 athletes in relation to anti-doping rule violations which include three Russian cross-country skiers (Julia Ivanova, Yulia Chekaleva and Anastasia Dotsenko), while declaring that the other 28 athletes' cases did not meet the threshold for the necessary level of evidence. These include cross-country skiers Evgeniy Belov, Alexander Bessmertnykh, Nikita Kriukov, Alexander Legkov, Natalia Matveeva, Alexey Petukhov, Evgenia Shapovalova, and Maxim Vylegzhanin.

FIS will work together with all stakeholders to analyse the reasoned decisions very carefully once they are available.

Regarding the participation of athletes from Russia at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, the FIS refers to the statement of the IOC that the decision of the Executive Board (EB) of 5 December 2017 remains in place. This states that since the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is suspended, Russian athletes can participate in PyeongChang only on invitation of the IOC. The IOC has stated that, "The result of the CAS decision does not mean that athletes from the group of 28 will be invited to the Games. Not being sanctioned does not automatically confer the privilege of an invitation".

For future FIS competitions, including the World Cup, FIS has lifted the current provisional suspensions for the following athletes based on today’s decision: Evgeniy Belov, Alexander Bessmertnykh, Nikita Kriukov, Alexander Legkov, Natalia Matveeva, Alexey Petukhov, Evgenia Shapovalova, Maxim Vylegzhanin.

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