Overview
- The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Vladyslav Heraskevych’s appeal, leaving in place his removal from the skeleton event after he refused to change a helmet honoring 24 Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed in the war.
- IOC President Kirsty Coventry met Heraskevych shortly before the race, and officials offered alternatives such as a black armband or displaying the helmet in the mixed zone, but he declined and the IBSF jury deemed the helmet non‑compliant.
- Ukrainian athletes protested at the Games by kneeling and raising white helmets, and President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the decision as inconsistent with Olympic principles.
- Ukraine’s sports minister, Matvii Bidnyi, criticized the enforcement and warned that softening international sporting sanctions on Russia would aid its propaganda.
- Heraskevych’s father said offers have reached up to €1 million for the helmet, with proceeds intended for charity, and the athlete received Ukraine’s Order of Liberty for his stance.