The luge team representing Ukraine took a collective knee, raising their helmets over their heads after the relay event in solidarity with disqualified teammate Vladyslav Heraskevych.

The IOC announced its decision to remove his accreditation before Heraskevych's first heats Thursday in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Ukraine's Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi believes the decision to disqualify Vladyslav Heraskevych from his skeleton event at the Milano Cortina Games was unjust but told Reuters there was no question of his team pulling out of the Olympics.

The team relay will be the final luge event of the Milan Cortina Olympics and will take place Thursday in Italy.

Vladyslav Heraskevych, a skeleton athlete for Team Ukraine, was disqualified after refusing to change helmets at the Milan Cortina Games.

Full list released of 20+ fallen Ukrainian athletes from Vladyslav Heraskevych’s banned Olympic helmet, documenting

Olympic officials have long sought to limit political demonstrations and displays at the Games. IOC restrictions on such protests date back more than seven decades, to the 1955 Olympic Charter, though their parameters—and athletes’ response to them—have changed with the intervening years.

The biggest controversy of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics came to a head on Thursday morning, as Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych was banned from competing.