Russia’s athletics federation filed an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday, challenging World Athletics’ decision to maintain a blanket ban on its track and field athletes. The move came less than a week after the global governing body, meeting in council, extended sanctions first imposed in March 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the body had been “consequential and methodical” in reviewing the measures but found “no tangible movement towards peace negotiations” and noted that the conflict continued to severely compromise Ukrainian athletes’ ability to train and compete. The Russian federation described the ban as discriminatory and argued it harms the fundamental interests of the sport in Russia.

Viewed from Lausanne, the athletics ban now stands as an outlier. On 7 July, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board rescinded its own recommendations that had restricted Russian participation, restoring the Russian Olympic Committee’s membership and clearing a path for athletes to compete in team events and qualifiers for the 2028 Los Angeles Games under strict neutral conditions. The IOC stipulated multiple doping tests and kept the anthem and flag off the field of play for the time being, but the decision was immediately condemned by Kyiv as “premature” and “unfounded”. World Athletics, however, held its line, with Coe citing the sight of ambulances and hearses on a Kyiv railway platform as a reason he could “never really be neutral”.

Across European winter sports, the legal and political landscape has already shifted. In December 2025, CAS ruled that the International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s (FIS) total exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes was unlawful, ordering that those meeting IOC neutrality criteria be allowed to compete. A handful of Russian skiers have since appeared as individual neutral athletes. FIS said this week it would conduct a “thorough evaluation” of conditions for the 2026/27 season, including anti-doping requirements, before setting its policy. Markus Kramer, the Italian national team coach who previously led Russia’s cross-country squad, welcomed the IOC’s move, saying it gave young Russian skiers “prospects and motivation”.

In Moscow, the athletics appeal is framed as part of a broader push to dismantle remaining barriers. The Russian federation noted it had engaged international sports lawyers and filed within the five-day window required by World Athletics’ constitution. It pointed to CAS rulings in skiing, luge and bobsleigh that overturned similar bans as evidence that blanket exclusions are legally vulnerable. The case now heads to arbitration, with World Athletics vowing to “strenuously defend” its position. The outcome will determine whether Russian track and field athletes can access Olympic qualifying pathways, even as other sports have already begun to reopen their doors.