Russia Returns to the Gymnastics Euros After Five Years
Russia returns to the European Championships after five years. A D-score look at the Zagreb comeback, the visa drama, and the men's field before Rotterdam.
Note: This article reflects information as of August 12, 2026.
Russia is coming back to the European Gymnastics Championships for the first time in five years. In August 2026, Russian and Belarusian gymnasts will compete as neutral athletes at the Europe
an Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. After years of effective exclusion following February 2022, the return of a traditional powerhouse reshapes the men's field. As a former gymnast and the developer of a D-score app, this analysis looks at how the comeback happened, the visa drama around it, and what it means for the men's competition heading into the Rotterdam World Championships.
Russia Returns to the Euros After Five Years
Russia's return is more than a single-nation entry question. It puts the sport's long-running dilemma of exclusion and reinstatement onto an actual competition floor.
The Road Back from the 2022 Ban
Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred from international competition by World Gymnastics (FIG) after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. From late 2024 they were gradually allowed back as Authorised Individual Neutral (AIN) athletes, and a handful competed as neutrals at the 2025 World Championships.
The decisive shift came in May 2026. According to Gymnastics Now, the FIG Executive Committee announced on May 18, 2026 that it would lift "all restrictions applicable to Russian and Belarusian athletes since February 2022, with immediate effect," in principle restoring normal participation with flags and anthems (Forbes; European Gymnastics). The measure covers all FIG disciplines, not only artistic gymnastics.
The Zagreb Championships: Dates and Scale
The 2026 European Championships take place at Arena Zagreb in the Croatian capital. The women compete August 13–16 and the men August 19–23, with the men's event marking the 37th edition. It is the first time Croatia has hosted the European artistic gymnastics championships, expected to bring more than 600 athletes from over 40 countries, with prize money introduced for the first time in the event's history.
If you want to follow the reported routines and difficulty, the ki.com/en/dscore">Gymnastics AI D-Score app
is handy: built on the FIG 2025–2028 Code of Points with a database of over 790 skills, it lets you rebuild a reported routine yourself and estimate its D-score.
