World Skate to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from its competitions

World Skate has finally decided to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from its competitions - pivoting on their previous decision to allow them to participate as neutrals.

World Skate announced that it “stands in solidarity with Ukraine and strongly supports the recommendations issued by the International Olympic Committee on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions.”

World Skate also clarifies that no events are scheduled to take place in Russia or Belarus in 2022.

World Skate will continue to monitor the situation closely and may further adapt its measures according to future developments.

The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation has drawn a range of punitive measures across the sporting world with Russia officially stripped of the UEFA Champions League final and Formula One dropping this season's Russian Grand Prix in Sochi.

The International Olympic Committee urged sports federations to move their events out of Russia and its ally Belarus while the SportAccord World Sport and Business Summit, scheduled to have held in the Russian city of Ekaterinburg from 15th to 20th May 2022 has been cancelled.

The urging caused a ripple effect across the sporting community with many IFs following the IOC’s lead.

However, until now, World Skate chose to follow the IOC’s softer sanction of allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals, meaning their national symbols, colours, flags and anthems could not be used.