Sliders from Ukraine and Russia will start consecutively at World Cup luge race at Lake Placid

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Ukrainian and Russian athletes are scheduled to start a World Cup men's luge race in consecutive order on Saturday, meaning it is almost certain that athletes from those nations will cross paths at least near the start of the track.

The start order for the race in Lake Placid, New York, was posted Thursday. Ukraine's Andriy Mandziy will be the second starter down the hill at Mount Van Hoevenberg, and he'll be immediately followed by Matvei Perestoronin — a Russian slider who is being allowed to compete as an independent neutral athlete.

That means Mandziy and Perestoronin will be in close proximity to one another at the top of the track, and probably again somewhere in the finish area once their first runs Saturday are complete. It also raises the likelihood that coaches from Ukraine and Russia may interact.

The start order for the race worked out that way because of how the order of finish played out from Thursday's Nations Cup race in Lake Placid, a one-heat qualifier for the World Cup competition. The first five starting spots in the World Cup race went to the top five finishers from the Nations Cup race, in reverse order.

Nations Cup winner Jonny Gustafson of the U.S. will start fifth and Nations Cup runner-up Tucker West of the U.S. will start fourth. Perestoronin was third and Mandizy fourth, meaning they'll be next to one another on the start sheet Saturday. Italy's Lukas Peccei was fifth in Nations Cup, so he'll be the first one down the hill.

Russia hoped to send six athletes to this World Cup weekend in Lake Placid; three lost their eligibility after new evidence was presented to the International Luge Federation suggesting that they were not neutral about the war that started when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The three Russian sliders that remain in the field — Perestoronin and Pavel Repilov on the men's side, Daria Olesik on the women's side — all qualified for the World Cup races to essentially keep their hopes of reaching the Milan Cortina Olympics alive.

The three remaining Russians have been training in Lake Placid this week, but in separate groups from the Ukrainians.

The International Olympic Committee wants Russian athletes to have the opportunity to compete as neutrals in some individual sports at Milan Cortina. There are Russian sliders trying to qualify in men's luge, women's luge, men's skeleton, women's skeleton and women's monobob — but not in any team sports such as a luge doubles event, or any bobsled race involving two- or four-person teams.

It's expected that a contingent of Ukraine fans will be at the races this weekend, given Lake Placid's deep ties to the sliding community from that country. There have been numerous efforts by people in Lake Placid to send help to Ukrainians during the war, and the village has even raised the Ukrainian flag at times as a show of support.

Some Ukrainian sliders took part in a walk of support alongside Lake Placid residents on Wednesday night down one of the Olympic village's main streets, carrying flags along with signs denouncing Russia's aggression.

The women's singles race on Friday and the men's singles race on Saturday will be the first World Cup competitions that Russians have been allowed to enter since the 2021-22 season, or just before the war started. Russian sliders did compete in a test event at the Cortina d'Ampezzo track last month and those results counted toward their Olympic qualifying bids, but those were not considered World Cup races.

The race in Lake Placid is the third of five races that will count toward Olympic qualifying, and the Russians need some results to enhance their odds of grabbing a berth for Milan Cortina. The last two qualifying races for luge are in Latvia and Germany, and Russians may have difficulty getting visas for those countries.

At Sigulda, Latvia, Belgium’s Kim Meylemans won a World Cup women’s skeleton race Thursday, the first of two such events on this weekend’s schedule.

Britain’s Tabitha Stoecker was second and Austria’s Janine Flock was third. The U.S. struggled again, with its top finishers — Mystique Ro and Kelly Curtis — tying for 15th.

Luge: Men's doubles, women's doubles and women's singles World Cup races Friday at Lake Placid.

Bobsled: Women's monobob and men's two-man World Cup races Saturday at Sigulda.

Skeleton: Men's and women's World Cup races Friday at Sigulda.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics