The Netherlands denied visas to reigning world all-around champion Angelina Melnikova, Viktoria Listunova, and Anna Kalmykova on Tuesday, blocking them from the 2026 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

The official reason given by the Netherlands: “one or more states – members of the Schengen Zone – consider the athletes a threat to their international relations.”

The Russian Gymnastics Federation (RGF) shared the news just three days before the aforementioned athletes were set for podium training. Competition in Rotterdam starts on October 17.

“The [RGF] considers the actions of the Dutch authorities as the targeted elimination of the strongest gymnasts from the fight for the world championship medal and Olympic quotas,” the federation said. “This is a direct discrimination of the principle of equal conditions for Olympic selection.”

The top three men’s and women’s teams at this year’s Worlds will qualify the first team quotas for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Russia, competing as WG2, was expected to contend for those quota spots, as well as for team and individual medals.

This isn’t the first time this year these athletes have been denied visas. Melnikova, Listunova, and Kalmykova were all initially denied visas for the 2026 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in August before Melnikova and Kalmykova were eventually approved. The WG2/Russian team went on to win team gold. Melnikova and Kalmykova won gold and silver in the all-around, respectively, and Melnikova won gold on vault and bronze on beam and floor.

“RGF intends to address the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Gymnastic with a request to assess the situation and its impact on ensuring equal conditions for Olympic qualification.”

As of Tuesday, one Russian women’s athlete – Alyona Glotova – and three Russian men’s athletes – Arseniy Dukhno, Daniel Marinov, and Sergey Naidin – have had their visas approved.

Still awaiting visa decisions are two women’s athletes – Lyudmila Roshchina and Milana Kayumova – and three men’s athletes – Ilya Zaika, Saveli Syedin, and Muhammadzhon Yakubov.

This is the second year that visa issues have cast a shadow over the start of the world championships. In 2025, Indonesia denied visa applications for Israeli gymnasts and officials. Indonesia doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Israel and is an ally to the Palestinian people.

In a similar vein, the Netherlands is an ally of Ukraine and supports European Union sanctions against Russia. The Netherlands has largely cut ties with Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.