The 2026 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships begin in Zagreb, Croatia next week, with women’s competition set for August 13-16 – but some notable names won’t be in attendance.
Olympic gold medalists Angelina Melnikova and Viktoria Listunova are among the members of the Russian delegation who have been declined Croatian visas.
In total nine out of the 65 members of the Russian delegation were refused visas. The official reason, according to the Russian Gymnastics Federation: “There is no justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay.”
Others denied visas include 2025 world team member Anna Kalmykova and undisclosed “athletes and specialists of the men’s team.”
Melnikova, the reigning world all-around champion, was expected to contend for multiple medals, as were Listunova and Kalmykova.
Melnikova shared the news with a post on Instagram, using a clown emoji in the caption. She also said, “The sport only becomes great when the best go against the best. And when strong rivals are not allowed to the start, the most valuable thing disappears – fair competition.”
Listunova was set to compete at her first international meet in more than four years. She only competed domestically due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes competing from 2022 to 2024. Her application for neutral status in 2025 was rejected, but World Gymnastics ended the ban in May, paving the way for her to return.
“The Russian Gymnastics Federation considers the visa refusal as a de facto deprivation of the leading Russian athletes of the opportunity to perform at the qualifying tournament. Such a practice creates a dangerous precedent in which administrative decisions can directly affect the composition of participants and the course of qualification selection. According to the federation, this calls into question the equal conditions for participation in qualifying competitions for athletes of all national federations,” the FGR statement says.
Despite World Gymnastics lifting the ban, Russian and Belarusian athletes will effectively compete as neutral athletes in Zagreb – without national flags, anthems, or symbols.
“In line with the transitional approach approved by the Extraordinary General Assembly on 28 July, following the World Gymnastics decision, the Croatian government decided to apply all measures relating to the non-use of Russian and Belarusian national flags, anthems, national symbols and national identifiers during these European Championships,” a European Gymnastics statement said last week.
The 2026 European Championships serve as the continental qualifier for this year’s world championships. The Russian team will look to compete with a team of alternate athletes in order to qualify.
The 2026 World Championships will award the first team quota spots for the 2028 LA Olympic Games.