By Gavin Kentch
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Earlier Wednesday, FIS announced the first tranche of skiers who had received Individual Neutral Athlete status and so were presumptively cleared to compete in World Cup races.
There were a total of nine athletes on the initial list, from multiple disciplines. Relevant to readers of this site, two of them are cross-country skiers: Saveliy Korostelev, 22, and Dariya Nepryaeva, 23, both of Russia. An additional one athlete from Russia and six from Belarus are on the December 10 list. Everyone on the list other than Korostelev and Nepryaeva competes in other FIS disciplines.
I first reported on October 8 that Russia, qua AIN (from the French athlètes individuels neutres, “individual neutral athletes”), would have only one Olympic spot per gender if they did make it to the World Cup in Period 1 of this year. Shoutout to my mother, the best lawyer in the family, for her help with statutory construction there.
There are clearly other factors bearing on team size than just Olympic qualification — I still need to work out whether Korostelev and Nepryaeva will be receiving ski service from approved Russian techs, for example, or if another nation will be assisting them with this in Davos — but sending one male and one female skier to the final stop within the Olympic qualification window is certainly consistent with Russia getting its foot in the AIN door in time to qualify for Milan–Cortina.
There are a lot of people writing about skiing on the internet (at least if you include Europe in the mix; the bench in this country is painfully sparse); I am sure that I was not the first person to make this observation about likely Olympic quotas for Russian skiers competing as AINs. One Chris Grover pointed this out on Andy Newell’s podcast in September, for example. But I did scoop Sweden’s Expressen and Norway’s TV2 on this realization by two months, so there’s that.
Outlets today are busy ramping up their “who is Saveliy Korostelev?” coverage (here is one example). (TLDR, in Korostelev’s last international competition he won the 10km classic and was second in the 30km skate at World Juniors in Lygna in February 2022, at just 18 years old; he more recently won the 2024/2025 Russian Cup over Bolshunov. “Alexander Bolshunov has been a good gauge of my development,” Korostelev says. “I am very close to him now.”)
I would direct you instead to Ryan Sederquist’s 56-minute podcast episode with the man from November 9. This is the best English-language interview I am aware of with a skier who will be receiving a lot of media attention in Davos this weekend. Silver goes to this interview with Expressen from November 13.
Speaking of media attention: The Barents Observer, an independent regional newspaper, reported on Monday of this week that Korostelev has historically (say, two seasons ago) been associated with CSKA, a sports club with strong ties to the Russian army. They cite, for example, a February 2023 article on the CSKA site, headlined “Army skiers won eight awards at the Russian Youth Championships,” which describes Korostelev as “a private” with CSKA.
“However,” the paper continues, “the skier is not listed in the current online registry of CSKA athletes, which could indicate that he is no longer part of the army club.”
“You can search everywhere on the internet for my opinion” on the war in Ukraine, Korostelev told Expressen last month, “but you won’t find anything. I am an athlete and my opinion is that sports without politics is very good. I am not part of any military group.”
All that said, FIS has given its imprimatur to Korostelev as a neutral athlete. The FIS documents promulgated with this decision do not discuss the possibility of an appeal. Appeals are explicitly proscribed under the IOC’s process for determining neutral-athlete status.
Update following helpful and reasoned DMs from Russian readers: There is compulsory military service for Russian men aged 18–30. This requirement historically applied to men aged 18–27, but the upper age range was increased in July 2023, a year-plus into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There are multiple options for service, including as a “normal” soldier and in a sports unit (most visibly CSKA).
On the one hand, most headlines surrounding eligibility have said something like “No link with the Russian military.” On the other hand, the full text of the FIS neutral-athlete rules, released on Monday of this week, states, “Athletes and support personnel who are or have been voluntarily contracted or supported to/by the Russian or Belarusian military, including any affiliated entities or with national security agencies, cannot participate in competitions on the FIS Calendar.” (emphasis added)
The use of “voluntarily” here, coupled with the compulsory nature of military service, permits a reading that Korostelev was compelled to be associated with the Russian military in some manner, then voluntarily chose CSKA over serving as a “regular” soldier. FIS has provided as much explanation for its decision here as the U.S. Supreme Court does for its shadow docket, viz., none, but that is my good-faith reconstruction of an argument in favor of Korostelev’s neutrality, notwithstanding his association with CSKA.
Again, my thanks to the folks who contacted me on this point.
Embed from Getty ImagesBoth Russian skiers come from accomplished athletic linages. Korostelev’s mother, Natalia Korosteleva, and uncle, Nikolai Morilov, both won bronze medals in the team sprint at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Dariya Nepryaeva, meanwhile, is the younger sister of Natalia Terenteva, who as Natalia Nepryaeva won three medals in Beijing. Dariya Nepryaeva likewise performed well at 2022 World Juniors, winning the 5km classic and skiing on the second-place women’s relay team. She won the 15km classic at Russian Junior National Championships in March 2022. She took the overall title in the 2024/2025 Russian Cup.
Racing in Davos kicks off on Friday with a skate team sprint, followed by a skate sprint on Saturday and a 10km interval-start skate on Sunday.
“Дебют на выходных✌️,” reads the most recent post on Korostelev’s Telegram page: “Debut this weekend! ✌️” On his English-language Instagram story, he went with a photo of a Christmas tree and, “Christmas wonder: WC debut is soon.”
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