By 301 Contributor Areni Panosian
The 2026 Winter Olympic games, officially titled Milano Cortina 2026, took place from February 6th through February 22nd across Italy. Five athletes were welcomed to represent Armenia this year amongst 92 total nations and 2,871 athletes to compete in a variety of winter sports. Karina Akopova and Nikita Rakhmanin, the pair skating duo from Armenia, represented the country as flagbearers in the opening ceremony, followed by the other athletes, Katya Galstyan, Harutyun Harutyunyan, and Mikayel Mikayelyan. Several other athletes of Armenian descent competed in the Olympics for their respective countries as well, displaying a wide array of Armenian representation across the games this month.
The flagbearers from Armenia, Karina Akopova and Nikita Rakhmanin, competed in pair skating and placed 14th overall. Akopova and Rakhmanin were both born in Russia and have competed as a pair since 2020 and have been in a relationship since 2019. Akopova, 22, was born in Moscow to an Armenian family who moved to Russia in 1988 following the Nagorno Karabakh war, whereas Rakhmanin, 26, is ethnically Russian, but he made the decision to compete with Karina as an Armenian citizen. The two skated to Ara Gevorgyan’s “Artsakh”, delivering a symbolic homage to Akopova’s ethnic identity and the nation she chose to represent, however, the pair faced backlash from the Azerbaijani Olympic committee due to supposed “political” implications of the song. The name of the program was altered to “Music by Ara Gevorgyan” on the International Skating Union (ISU) website. Despite the backlash, the two still performed to the song and qualified for the final round.
Also representing Armenia was Katya Galstyan, a 33 year old cross country skier from Ashotsk, who previously competed at the Winter Olympic Games in 2014, 2018, and 2022. She ranked 82nd in the women’s 10km interval start free and 69th in the women’s 10km skiathlon. Also from Ashotsk, Mikayel Mikayelyan competed for Armenia for the third time in cross country skiing, placing 53rd in the men’s 10km interval start free and 48th in the men’s 10km skiatholon. Finally, 25 year old Harutyun Harutyunyan, an alpine skier from Tsaghkadzor, also represented Armenia, having previously competed in 2022. Harutyunyan placed 59th in the men’s giant slalom, and was unfortunately disqualified in his other men’s slalom event for missing a gate.
Armenians competed in the Olympics from several other nations as well. Most notably, Russian-Armenian Adeliya Petrossian competed independently under AIN (Athletes Individuels Neutres– Neutral Athletes), a designation for the Winter 2026 Olympics that Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete under following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Numerous Russian athletes competed under this designation under the condition that they cannot wear the Russian flag, walk in the opening ceremony, play their anthem, or express support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. Adeliya Petrossian, an 18 year old figure skater from Moscow, competed under this neutral designation, placing 5th overall in singles figure skating. She gained significant media attention for her program and her journey with famous Russian figure skating coach Eteri Tutberidze, specifically through the documentary “Tutuberidze’s Method”. Aside from Petrossian, several other Armenian athletes from the diaspora excelled in the Olympics, specifically Terence and Melvin Tchiknavorian, two cousins and freestyle skiers from France. Terence, 33, placed 5th overall in the men’s ski cross event, and his younger cousin Melvin, 29, placed 17th in freestyle skiing. Finally, Yianno Kouyoumdjian, a 29 year old Armenian alpine skier from Cyprus placed 64th in the men’s giant slalom and 34th in the men’s slalom.
Armenians from both Armenia and other nations competed at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, many of whom qualified for final events. Figures like Adeliya Petrossian, Karina Akopova, and Nikita Rakhmanin gained significant media attention for their competitive performances on the ice and the use of music that was deemed controversial, shedding light on the way geopolitical realities infiltrate sports.
