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

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

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.”

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.”

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.