Russia names 16 for Ruka, but only the three already in Finland have a real chance

Russia’s ski federation named its team for the first two World Cup weekends on Thursday, 12 November: seven men and nine women for Ruka (27–29 November) and Trondheim (4–6 December), picked from the selection races in Khanty-Mansiysk. A day later, Finland’s foreign ministry spelled out what its new entry rule means in practice. Put the two together and the Russian squad for Ruka shrinks from sixteen to, at most, three.

The squad

• Men: Savelii Korostelev, Ilya Semikov, Andrey Sakharov, Vladislav Osipov, Danila Karpasyuk, Nikita Rodionov, Kirill Kochegarov
• Women: Natalia Terenteva, Dariya Nepryaeva, Evgeniia Krupitskaia, Ekaterina Nikitina, Alina Pekletsova, Ruslana Dyakova, Dariya Kaneva, Lidiia Gorbunova, Elizaveta Maslakova

The federation added a warning of its own: “For a number of objective reasons not all athletes, even with neutral status, can take part in the next stages,” it said, citing administrative, logistical and organisational problems. Aleksandr Bolshunov, Sergey Ardashev, Aleksandr Terentev, Veronika Stepanova and Alena Baranova still have no neutral status from FIS. Denis Spitsov, cleared earlier this week, is not in the squad.

According to the federation, Korostelev, Terenteva and Nepryaeva are already in the Nordic countries and racing at the FIS meeting in Muonio this weekend. The other thirteen are at home in Russia, waiting for the travel questions to be settled.

What Finland told the federations

When Finland’s government tightened its entry rule on 12 November, it left one question open: what happens to Russians who hold a Schengen visa issued by another country, usually Italy, France or Spain, rather than by Finland. That is how the Russians racing in Finland so far had come in; the Finnish Ski Association says it sent no visa invitations.

On Friday the foreign ministry briefed Finnish sports federations, and according to Yle the answer was blunt: from Monday, 16 November, a Russian athlete can enter Finland only with a visa issued by Finland. A Schengen visa from another member state will not do. The Finnish Ski Association told Yle it has asked FIS for guidance and has no solution yet.

Jussi Tanner, the ministry’s head of consular services, described the line to Iltalehti. “The principle is that from Monday, arriving in Finland is no longer possible for Russian athletes,” he said. Athletes who are already in the country will be looked at case by case, taking into account whether they came “in good faith” before Thursday’s decision. A visa issued by Finland weighs more than one issued elsewhere when the authorities decide whether someone may stay. Asked whether a Russian could be removed from the course at Ruka, Tanner said Finnish officials would try to “avoid a circus”, but that removal from the country is among their tools.

Why it comes down to three

For the thirteen skiers in Russia, Ruka now looks closed. Under Tanner’s principle, no Russian athlete may arrive from Monday, and Finland no longer issues athletes the short-term work visa that used to cover them.

For the three in Muonio the picture is different but fragile. If they stay in Finland for the twelve days between the last race in Muonio on Sunday and the first race at Ruka on 27 November, they will be judged as people who were already inside before the rule took effect. If they leave, even for a short trip, the new rule applies on their way back. Which country issued each skier’s visa, a point Tanner suggested will matter, has not been made public.

Sergey Volkov, who is also racing in Muonio but was left out of the squad, sees the same logic. “The visa problem is quite acute now, and I may end up being the only one who can race at the stages in Finland and Norway,” he told RIA Novosti on Friday. “I’m calm about whether I take part or not.”

A short-stay Schengen visa allows at most 90 days in any 180, so even a Russian who stays legally in Finland until Ruka would be gone long before Lahti in mid-February.

Trondheim, a week after Ruka, is likely shut for all sixteen. Norway’s government said on Thursday that it will turn away Russian and Belarusian athletes who come to compete, whatever visa they hold, from a date to be announced “shortly”. The first World Cup weekend outside the Nordic countries is Davos, on 11–13 December. For most of the Russian squad, that is now the realistic starting point of the season.

Sweden and Estonia move too

Sweden, host of the World Championships in Falun from 24 February and the World Cup finals in Ulricehamn, signalled on Friday that it wants the same result. Prime minister Ulf Kristersson said Sweden’s position was “very close to the Norwegian and Finnish”. Migration minister Johan Forssell told TT that the government is working on a way, within the constitution, to stop Russian athletes at the border “even if they have received a visa in another country”, and will present it in the near term, in good time before Falun. Swedish law, he said, gives ministers less direct control than Norway’s, and each refusal would need an individual assessment.

Estonia’s culture ministry wrote to FIS that competitions with Russian and Belarusian athletes “cannot take place in Estonia” while the war goes on, ERR reported. Estonia has no cross-country World Cup this winter, but Otepää is due to host the junior and U23 World Championships from 18 to 24 January.

FIS repeated its line in a statement to BBC Sport: host-country visa and entry rules “are determined solely by the host country”, and FIS “bears no responsibility” when an athlete it has cleared is refused a visa or entry.

This weekend in Muonio

Terenteva, in her first international race since 2022, qualified 21st in Friday’s classic sprint and went out in the quarter-finals. Nepryaeva did not start. Korostelev skipped the sprint. The 10 km classic is on Saturday and the 10 km free on Sunday, the last two races before Finland’s rule takes effect on Monday.