Russian biathletes decided to propose their own criteria for admission to international competitions

RBU does not consider IOC recommendations dogma

The RBU will take the initiative in May to hold a conference with representatives of the International Biathlon Union to consider the criteria for the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competitions. The IBU has already stated that it sees no reason to review suspension decisions. The SBR believes that there should be a “complete rejection” of the announced admission criteria.

At the end of March, the IOC recommended that the international federations return to the starts the Russians who did not support the special operation as neutral athletes. The IBU said that the IOC’s recommendations were taken into account, but the reasons that led to the decision to remove Russians and Belarusians from tournaments “are still valid, the time has not come to reconsider the decision.”

The IOC also put forward a number of admission criteria: for example, not to allow athletes associated with the armed forces and security agencies to compete. He also proposed not to consider teams from Russia and Belarus as participants in international competitions.

SBR President Viktor Maigurov, summing up the season, said that contacts with the IBU remain and in May Russia will propose to consider “certain criteria.” Communication will be initiated from our side. The IOC made recommendations, “but it’s not a dogma”.

RRF position: IOC criteria are unacceptable for us. Maigurov believes that each federation depends on the territoriality of its members: if there are more Asian representatives in martial arts, then there are more European representatives in biathlon, plus America and Great Britain. “The European position is clear today,” as are the IBU statements. But the example of other federations that have already decided to admit Russia should not go unnoticed. And it will lead to a revision of the position.

All the criteria put forward by the IOC, Viktor Maygurov believes, “are not logical and are not supported by anything legally.” But the right movement in this direction has already begun, and “the diplomacy that exists now is developing new criteria.”

The President of the RBU is sure that it is more interesting for the strongest to compete with the strongest. And our athletes, if they had competed last season, would have taken part in the fight for prizes. “We would add stress to all the competitions, there would be no such hegemony of the Norwegian team.”

The SBR believes that with a probability of 80-90% it is already possible to say which of the Russian athletes are applying for participation in the 2026 Olympics. “Forecasts are a thankless task, but I am optimistic about the future, we have already begun preparations for the next season.”

The RBU prize fund last season amounted to 105 million rubles, of which the athletes received 66.3 million rubles at the Russian Championship, the Russian Cup and the Commonwealth Cup. (Another 9 million were paid out at the Russian Championship and other All-Russian competitions). “Our main task is to develop biathlon, it is important to support top athletes and young people.” 30 million rubles were sent to regional federations.

The RBU also has projects to develop biathlon. “We are working on the creation of technical specifications so that new objects appear.” For example, the winter Spartakiad of the strongest will be held in Zlatoust (Chelyabinsk region). The development of biathlon is expected by Kostomuksha (Karelia), Murmansk, Kamchatka.