Veronika Stepanova hasn't applied for neutral status. That's why she's missing from the FIS list

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Veronika Stepanova is missing from the FIS list of approved neutral athletes for a simple reason: she has not applied.

The 25-year-old, who anchored Russia’s gold-medal relay at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, said so herself on 22 October. “‘Plans to apply for neutral status’ does not equal ‘has applied’. To promise is not to marry, is it?” she wrote on her Telegram channel. She added that “everything depends on conditions, time and place”.

She was responding to Dmitry Svishchev, president of the Russian ski federation, who had said on 19 October that she planned to submit her documents. On 24 October, Svishchev confirmed to the Russian outlet Sport24 that she had not. “Certain questions concern her, and the federation is advising her on them,” he said. According to Svishchev, she is now making a final decision on filling in the declaration and submitting her documents, and should decide soon.

To race as an Individual Neutral Athlete, Russian and Belarusian skiers must sign a declaration of neutrality and be cleared by FIS. We explained the full conditions in our explainer on the 2026/27 rules.

Points are not Stepanova’s obstacle. She has 32.28 distance points on the current FIS list, far inside the 150 needed for a World Cup start, as we reported last week. The only thing standing between her and the World Cup is status, and for now that step is hers to take, not FIS’s.

Aleksandr Bolshunov, the other Olympic champion missing from the list, is in a different position. The Russian side says his application is with FIS and he is still waiting for an answer. FIS has not commented on it. Its list only shows who has been cleared, not who has applied.

The latest version, dated 23 October, has 37 cross-country athletes, 35 of them Russian, including the 2021/22 World Cup winner Natalia Terenteva. Our analysis of who can start in Ruka on 27 November.

Correction: Our analysis of 24 October said FIS had not commented on either Bolshunov’s or Stepanova’s application. Stepanova had not applied. We have corrected that article.

Update, 27 October 2026: Russia’s federation has named Stepanova for the World Cups in Ruka and Trondheim, provided she gets neutral status. There is no public sign that she has applied. Our analysis.