CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych, a likely medal contender at the Milan Cortina Games, was barred from racing Thursday after refusing a last-minute plea from the International Olympic Committee to not use a helmet that honors more than 20 athletes and coaches killed since Russia invaded his country four years ago.
The decision came roughly 45 minutes before the start of the competition and ended a three-day saga where Heraskevych knew he was risking being pulled from the Games by wearing the helmet, one that the IOC says breaks rules against making statements on the field of play.
The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation said his decision to wear the helmet was “inconsistent with the Olympic Charter and Guidelines on Athlete Expression.” He wore the helmet in training, but the IOC asked him to wear a different helmet in races. It offered concessions, such as wearing a black armband or letting him display the helmet once he was off the ice.
“I believe, deeply, the IBSF and IOC understand that I’m not violating any rules,” Heraskevych said. “Also, I would say (it's) painful that it really looks like discrimination because many athletes already were expressing themselves. ... They didn't face the same things. So, suddenly, just the Ukrainian athlete in this Olympic Games will be disqualified for the helmet.”
IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who was slated to be in Cortina d'Ampezzo to see Alpine skiing, went to the sliding center instead. She was waiting at the top of the track when Heraskevych arrived and they met privately. After about 10 minutes, Coventry was unable to change Heraskevych’s mind.
“We didn't find common ground in this regard,” Heraskevych said.
Tears rolled down Coventry's face after the meeting. The Olympic champion swimmer said she wanted a different outcome, and the IOC said its decision was made with regret.
“As you’ve all seen over the last few days, we’ve allowed for Vladyslav to use his helmet in training,” Coventry said. “No one, no one — especially me — is disagreeing with the messaging. The messaging is a powerful message. It’s a message of remembrance. It’s a message of memory and no one is disagreeing with that. The challenge that we are facing is that we wanted to ask or come up with a solution for just the field of play.”
Coventry and Heraskevych agreed that the helmet images aren't clearly seen during races, since sliders zip down the icy chute at around 120 kph (75 mph). That, the IOC hoped, was the window to a compromise. Heraskevych would not budge.
“Sadly, we’ve not been able to come to that solution,” Coventry said. “I really wanted to see him race today. It’s been an emotional morning.”
Heraskevych filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but the race went on without him. The first two runs were Thursday; the last two are Friday. Heraskevych and his attorneys asked CAS for a response by Friday, though it’s not clear how his situation could be remedied at this point.
Regardless of what CAS says, if anything, his chance to race in these Games is gone. The IOC let him keep his credential, meaning he can remain at the Olympics as an athlete — just not a competing one.
About a dozen Russian athletes are being allowed to compete at the Olympics as neutral individuals along with seven Belarusians; they are not allowed to compete under their national flag or anthem. Heraskevych has spoken out about why he believes they shouldn't be at the Olympics and said the IOC's decision “plays along with Russian propaganda.”
The decision drew immediate condemnation from officials in Ukraine and some athletes.
“Sport shouldn’t mean amnesia, and the Olympic movement should help stop wars, not play into the hands of aggressors,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “Unfortunately, the decision of the International Olympic Committee to disqualify Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych says otherwise.”
In the luge team relay Thursday night, Ukraine's six sliders all took a knee after the team crossed the finish line and hoisted their helmets — plain white ones, no designs to be found — skyward in a show of support for Heraskevych.
"Disqualified. I think that's enough to understand what the modern IOC really is and how it disgraces the idea of the Olympic movement," Ukrainian skier Kateryna Kotsar posted on Instagram. "Vladyslav Heraskevych, for us and for the whole world, you're a champion. Even without starting."
The IOC had sided with Ukraine's top slider before. When he displayed a "No war in Ukraine" sign after his fourth and final run at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the IOC said he was simply calling for peace and did not find him in violation of the Olympic charter.
This time, Heraskevych said he believes there are inconsistencies in how the IOC decides what statements are allowed. Among those he cited: U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov bringing a photo of his late parents — former pairs world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who were among the 67 people killed in a plane crash on Jan. 29, 2025 — to the kiss-and-cry area after his skate in Milan this week, and Israeli skeleton athlete Jared Firestone's decision to appear at the opening ceremony wearing a kippah that bore the names of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches killed in the 1972 attack during the Munich Games.
“A competitor literally placed the memory of the dead on his head to honor them,” Heraskevych wrote on Instagram. “I frankly do not understand how these two cases are fundamentally different.”
Firestone said simply that he admired Heraskevych. “I think he’s a man with strong values,” he said.
In Milan, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said if athletes were allowed to display messaging without restrictions on the field of play, “that would lead to a chaotic situation.”
“Sport without rules cannot function. ... If we have no rules, we have no sport,” Adams said.
Heraskevych was fourth at the world championships last year and was among the fastest in training leading into the Olympic races. A medal was possible, but to Heraskevych, the helmet mattered more.
“The International Olympic Committee destroyed our dreams,” said Mykhailo Heraskevych, the slider’s coach and father. “It’s not fair.”
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AP journalists Julia Frankel, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Graham Dunbar contributed to this report.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics