Last weekend, the Latvian men’s hockey team won a ticket to the 2026 Milan and Cortina Olympic Games.
Latvian ice hockey players are expected to play in subgroup C together with Slovakia, which also won one of the qualifying tournaments on Sunday, and the USA and Russia, which secured a place in the Olympic Games by ranking, and which the IIHF has not yet disqualified from the 2025/2026 season.
“This issue is not on the agenda at all, because, as far as we know, [Starptautiskā Olimpiskā komiteja] The IOC and IIHF will make the relevant decisions sometime in the near future. We do not consider such an option at all,” said LHF president Aigars Kalvītis.
He emphasized that the most realistic option at the moment is the option in which the best of the second-place finishers in the qualifying tournaments, which would be France, will take Russia’s place at the 2026 Olympic Games. In this situation, Latvian hockey players would play in the subgroup with USA, Denmark and Germany.
The IOC, on the other hand, referred to the fact that the principles of the IOC currently stipulate that individual neutral athletes and their support staff cannot participate in the Olympic Games in team sports.
“We believe that such or a stricter regulation should be maintained and that neither individual neutral athletes nor teams of aggressor countries should be allowed to participate in the Olympic Games during the war in Ukraine,” said the LOK press service.
“Part 3 of Article 17.1 of the Sports Law forbids Latvian team sports teams from playing against Russian or Belarusian national teams if they participate in competitions under their own flag or in a neutral status. Therefore, neither the LHF nor the LOK is currently not deciding this issue,” explained the LOK.
In the 2026 Olympic Games, the hockey tournament will take place in Milan.
2024-09-06 12:28:58