Should he be disallowed from competing on Thursday, he will be remembered in Ukraine as an athlete who took a bold stand.

Vladyslav Heraskevych wants to compete in a helmet that features athletes and coaches killed during his country’s war with Russia. The International Olympic Committee has said it won’t be allowed.

As Ukrainian athletes prepare for the 2026 Winter Olympics, they will seek to boost the morale of their compatriots in Ukraine amid an ongoing war and a brutal winter.

German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) president Thomas Weikert has said that Ukrainian skeleton slider Vladyslav Heraskevych should accept the rules in his "helmet of memory" dispute with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

A WINTER Olympian has been banned from wearing an anti-Russia helmet with images of Ukraine war victims. Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was told by the International Olympic

Vladyslav Heraskevych, a skeleton sled racer, says he will wear a helmet showing images of Ukrainian athletes killed defending his country against Russia's full-scale invasion. International Olympic Committee officials say the move would violate rules designed to keep politics out of the Olympics.

A Ukrainian athlete could face disciplinary action over a helmet commemorating athletes killed in the war with Russia.

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, mark a historic moment for the Games. Not only because Italy is hosting for the first time since Torino 2006, but because these Olympics will be taking place in multiple locations, with venues scattered across the Italian Alps and Dolomites.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Ukraine’s flag bearer during the Olympic opening ceremony plans to continue wearing a helmet that commemorates the lives of Ukrainian athletes lost since Russia’s invasion, despite a ban from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which says it breaks Olympic rules on neutrality.

27-year-old Vladyslav Heraskevych shared that he had donned the helmet in an effort to speak out about Russia's war on Ukraine

Some individual athletes from the banned countries will be permitted to participate in the Milano Cortina Winter Games