The Us Dominated Figure Skating's World Championships. It May Face The Russians At The Olympics

It's hard to imagine a better world championships for the American figure skating team, which captured gold in three of the four disciplines over the weekend for the first time in its history, and will take all of that momentum into an Olympic year.

But there is an old rival potentially returning to the mix that wasn't at worlds: the Russians.

The country that has dominated Olympic figure skating over the past three-plus decades has been banned from competing in any international events since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Its best skaters have been forced to defect to other countries or, for those unwilling to do so, compete in a series of domestic events far outside of the global spotlight.

But late last year, the International Skating Union announced that it had developed a strict procedure whereby a small number of Russian athletes could qualify for the Milano-Cortina Games in February. The plan created at the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee involves Russia nominating a single athlete or pair in each of the disciplines to compete in a qualifying event in Beijing later this year, provided they go through a rigorous background check.

The athletes would compete as neutral athletes, much like a small number did at the 2024 Paris Olympics , and only if they have no ties to the Russian or Belarusian military and have not publicly supported the invasion of Ukraine.