Bolshunov told to wait a season, or let back in by FIS's own rules? The board meets on Tuesday
Aleksandr Bolshunov’s return to the World Cup is now a question FIS has to answer at the top. On Sunday, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that FIS does not want to give the three-time Olympic champion neutral status this season. “He was offered to wait until next season, even though he has left CSKA,” an unnamed source told the agency. By Sunday evening, NRK was reporting the opposite problem: sources inside FIS told the Norwegian broadcaster that the federation’s own new rules may in practice entitle Bolshunov to race, and that the FIS board is expected to discuss the case on Tuesday.
Nobody has confirmed a decision. Bolshunov is not on the FIS list of approved neutral athletes, last updated on 30 October. FIS told NRK that “for legal and confidentiality reasons” it cannot comment on individual neutral-status cases. Elena Välbe, vice-president of the Russian federation, told NRK that Bolshunov “has not received any official answer from FIS”. The federation’s president, Dmitry Svishchev, said the same to Match TV and told RIA Novosti that the federation is “in negotiations” with FIS and has no information about an offer for next season. He added that if any Russian athlete is refused, “we will defend each one’s interests in court”.
What changed in the rules
To race as a neutral athlete, a Russian or Belarusian skier must be approved by a three-person FIS panel, which publishes no reasons for its decisions. Bolshunov was turned down once already, on 24 December 2025, before the Milan-Cortina Olympics. The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ad hoc division at the Games ruled in its January award that it had no jurisdiction to hear his appeal, so the refusal was never tested in court.
This autumn FIS reopened its events to Russians and rewrote the criteria. Two changes matter for Bolshunov. The old rules barred athletes from clubs linked to Russia’s armed forces, such as CSKA Moscow and Dynamo; that clause is gone. The new guidelines still say an athlete may not be attached to the Russian military and may not support the war. But according to NRK, the old wording said an athlete could not have supported the war at any point since it began. That time limit has been removed.
The difference is large for a skier with Bolshunov’s past. He skied for CSKA, the army club, for most of his career and was an officer in the National Guard, which reports directly to President Vladimir Putin; he was promoted to captain after the 2022 Olympics. Under the old wording, that history counted against him. Under the new one, as NRK’s sources read it, what matters is where he stands now. RIA Novosti reported that he has left CSKA, and Sport-Express that he has left the National Guard. Neither has been confirmed by Bolshunov or FIS.
Two bad options
That leaves FIS, in NRK’s account, with two choices. It can clear Bolshunov, which several of the biggest skiing nations, Norway among them, would likely protest. Or it can refuse him and risk losing an appeal to CAS, which Russia has already signalled it would bring. A refusal would be harder to defend this time. Last winter’s case fell at the jurisdiction stage. A new refusal under rules that, by FIS’s own sources’ reading, he now meets would come with a written policy for Russia’s lawyers to argue against.
RIA’s “wait a season” line would fit a third path: the panel sits on the application, nothing is formally refused, and there is nothing to appeal. In September FIS told RIA Novosti that anyone previously refused would be checked by an independent outside organisation if they applied again, which also takes time. Whether the board can steer a panel that is meant to decide case by case is not public.
What it means for Ruka and Trondheim
The sporting stakes are high. Bolshunov has not raced internationally since February 2022, but his old results still give him 3.10 FIS distance points, seventh-best in the world, and 30.07 in sprint. Russia’s federation has already named him for Ruka and Trondheim on condition he is cleared. Russia currently has seven cleared men with qualifying points for its six places per individual race, so Bolshunov would push one of them out rather than add a start.
For Norway, he would also be the first test of its visa debate. Ski president Roger Finjord has asked the government to say whether Russian athletes will get visas for the World Cup races in Norway, and Oslo mayor Anne Lindboe has asked it to stop Russian participation at Holmenkollen. Trondheim, on 4–6 December, is the second stop of the season.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, his great rival before 2022, told NRK in October that he would welcome Bolshunov back: “I hope he is at the same level he was at and that we can have as many fun, close duels as we had.”
The next signs to watch are any statement after Tuesday’s board meeting and the next version of the FIS list. Russia’s trials for its remaining World Cup places are in Khanty-Mansiysk on 10 and 11 November, and the World Cup opens in Ruka on 27 November.