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Team Russia's participation in the 2026 Winter Olympics, set to be held in Milan-Cortina, remains uncertain. Russian athletes have been banned from international events since early 2022, following the breakout of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The IIHF had extended the ban to both Russian and Belarusian teams through the 2025 calendar year. The decision on whether that ban will be extended to next year was expected around the middle of this year. However, recent updates have cast doubt on the prospects of Russian athletes, including Alex Ovechkin.
Speaking on TSN's Insider Trading, Mike Johnston revealed that the IIHF has preponed the final date for confirming Team Russia's participation at the upcoming Winter Olympics. The decision was made due to the military aggression in Ukraine, which shows no signs of resolution in the near future.
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"A notable nugget dropped by IIHF President, Luc Tardif at the end of the World Junior tournament when he spoke with reporters and said that the deadline to determine if Russia can participate in the 2026 Olympics is now - next month. It originally was believed that decision would come in May.
"And why it's so significant is because the absolute first step before Russia could participate in international hockey, again, is ending the war in Ukraine, and that obviously does not leave much time geopolitically for the landscape to change. And so if Tardif holds to that deadline, that he's now sent publicly, it seems very, very, very unlikely we'll see Russia in the next Olympics," Johnston said.
Alex Ovechkin's last chance to strike gold with Russia
At the club level, Alex Ovechkin is doing his best to chase Wayne Gretzky's 894 goals mark, which is the highest in the NHL. Ovechkin is not far behind, having scored 872 goals in 1451 games. At the national level, he has played at the Winter Olympics so far from 2006 to 2014.
"I don't know what's even going to happen there," Ovechkin said in August 2024. "Yes, we want to play in the Olympics, but if they won't let us, what do we do?," Ovechkin said.
That makes the 2026 Winter Olympics Ovechkin's last opportunity on the Olympic stage. Russia's last gold medal in ice hockey at the Olympic stage was in 2018, which Ovechkin missed.
