Winter Olympics 2026: Ukrainian athlete disqualified from skeleton over helmet tribute – live

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The skeleton event, in which Heraskevych was supposed to have been racing, is well underway at the Cortina Sliding Centre. After run one, Britain’s Matt Weston is currently in the lead, with Britain’s Marcus Wyatt in seventh.

Run two starts at 10.08, with the final tomorrow.

BBC commentator, and two-time Olympic bobsleigher, John Jackson, was asked about his view on Heraskevych:

“For me, being military and now a veteran, rememberance is really important to all veterans,” he said. “We have all lost friends and colleagues in conflict and we all know someone who isn’t here and paid the ultimate sacrifice.

“I support him in what he was trying to achieve. It is really important to remember those who have given their life for something that ultimately doesn’t need to happen.”

IOC president Kirsty Coventry was in tears speaking to the media after the decision to ban Heraskevych. “This is price of our dignity,” Heraskevych posted on X shortly after his meeting with Coventry.

IOC President Kirsty Coventry speaks to the media after her meeting with Heraskevych. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

The Kyiv-based artist Irina Protz, who has known Heraskevych since he was a child, decorated his helmet of memory, which showed 24 athletes killed in the Russian war.

“The world is becoming more apathetic every day,” she has said. “That is why I took on this work to remind the world that we had athletes who could have been here.”

The skeleton event, in which Heraskevych was a medal contender, is underway without him.

The Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych has been disqualified from the Winter Olympics after he refused to back down from wearing a “helmet of memory” in honour of Ukraine’s war dead.

The decision was announced by the International Olympic Committee just 21 minutes before the first round of the men’s skeleton competition in Cortina on Thursday after last-ditch talks between the IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, and Heraskevych failed to find a breakthrough.

Lizzy Yarnold, who won skeleton gold for Team GB in 2014 and 2018, is on pundit duty for the BBC and was asked about the decision to expel Heraskevych from the Olympics.

“He’s had his accreditation taken away, which means he needs to leave the Games … This is the wrong decision, and the IOC owe him an apology.”

Heraskevych on ban: 'It's emptiness'

From the Associated Press:

International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry was waiting for Heraskevych at the top of the track when he arrived at around 8.15am Thursday, or roughly 75 minutes before the start of the men’s skeleton race.

They went into a private area and spoke briefly, and Coventry was unable to change Heraskevych’s mind. He was holding the decision from the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation when he briefly addressed reporters and said he would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“It’s hard to say or put into words. It’s emptiness,” he said. Coventry spoke with reporters after the meeting, tears rolling down her face as she spoke. “It’s a message of memory and no one is disagreeing with that,” Coventry said. The IOC added that it made its decision “with regret.”

Vladyslav Heraskevych talks to the media at the start house of the sliding centre on Thursday. Photograph: Fatima Shbair/AP

Heraskevych disqualified from skeleton for memorial helmet

Good morning and welcome to our daily live coverage from Milano Cortina.

Some breaking news this morning: The Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych is out of the Games after refusing a last-minute plea from the International Olympic Committee to use a helmet other than the one that honours athletes killed in the war with Russia.

We’ll have more details soon on that and the rest of day six’s action, where nine golds are up for grabs.