Saveliy Korostelev, 'Sigma-Boy' Skier, to Race in Winter Olympics

Last week, the Russian Olympic Committee announced that athletes competing under a neutral status have received invitations to the 2026 Winter Olympics — they will take place from February 6 to 22 in Italy. Among the athletes is 22-year-old Perm native Saveliy Korostelev — he has long competed in cross-country skiing and has won many prestigious titles and awards. Over 26,000 people are subscribed to the young athlete«s Telegram blog, where he shares moments from his professional and daily life. We tell who Saveliy Korostelev is and how he achieved success.

Wrote in a Notebook That He Wants to Become an Olympic Champion

Saveliy Korostelev was born on November 30, 2003 in Perm. Saveliy«s mother — honored master of sport, bronze medalist of the 2010 Olympics in cross-country skiing Natalya Korosteleva. Uncle Nikolai Morilov also won bronze at those Olympics. Until the age of seven, the skier was raised by Natalya, and after that, she raised her son together with her stepfather — Russian national team coach Evgeny Uftikov.

In childhood, Saveliy was trained by his grandmother Alevtina Morilova, and in his teenage years, when the boy traveled frequently for competitions, — by his grandfather Sergei Morilov. Both grandmother and grandfather — are honored coaches of Russia.

Natalya Korosteleva shared memories of her son«s childhood and youth. Saveliy was surrounded by athlete relatives from childhood and managed to try his hand at various sports.

— I don«t know if it»s lucky or unlucky, but Saveliy was born into a sports family. We showed him different opportunities and sports, he did swimming too, they really waited for him there and asked him to stay, — Natalya Korosteleva recalls in a conversation with 59.RU. — He skied well on alpine skis, on ice skates. But Saveliy saw his mother, uncle, grandmother and grandfather on skis from childhood and, most likely, that«s why he made such a choice.

Saveliy entered Lyceum No. 1 at Perm Polytechnic University at the age of six, already able to read and write. He studied in a mathematics class.

In the first school years, Natalya worried about her son: he was a very active child. But the teachers reassured her that the boy was doing well in his studies.

— The teachers said: «Everything is fine, he»s a smart boy, he just often falls off the chair,« — the Perm native laughs in a conversation with 59.RU. — He needed activity, so he apparently fell off the chair. We had to direct him in the right direction, and sport helped with that.

During his school years, Saveliy competed in student sports festivals, city and regional competitions. His mother notes: back then, he didn«t always win, as there were physically larger guys who had an advantage. But the boy grew up, and he started to win. Results gradually began to grow. Once in a school notebook, Saveliy wrote that he wants to become an Olympic champion.

Saveliy has been very sociable and friendly since childhood, his mother says.

— He grew up around the national team and always communicated a lot with both peers and adults. I always photographed and supported my son, perhaps that also influenced his openness, — says Natalya Korosteleva. — Saveliy by nature is always responsive: he will help and ask what«s needed. Even now, when he»s an adult, he can refuse something and justify his refusal, but more often he helps.

«Lucky: Born — and Immediately a Perfect Child»

Saveliy became independent early: first he flew to competitions and between training camps from Perm to Moscow and back with his mother, but it was costly for the family, from the age of eight the boy started flying alone. Airlines have an escort service, a child from eight years old can travel independently, but an employee is «assigned» to them. At that time, one of the airlines offered this option for free. Natalya would take Saveliy to the airport and hand him over to the flight attendants, and they would look after him during the flight. At the airport in Moscow, the boy was met by a team representative and escorted to the location.

— He loved it very much, the flight attendants always loved him. Sometimes it happened that Saveliy was on a flight with the same [flight attendants], they would say: «Oh, our boy again!» — Natalya smiles. — And we sometimes heard from acquaintances: «Your Saveliy is so good, you»re so lucky!« Then we, grandmother and grandfather, would exchange glances and say: »Yes, lucky: born — and immediately a perfect child!« But that»s not the case.

Natalya recalls: sometimes Saveliy misbehaved and played pranks, like other children. But his upbringing was handled intensively by the whole family. Grandfather and stepfather raised the boy strictly but fairly, as a real man. Although the son tried to «bend» the female half of the family, Natalya laughs: for example, returning from kindergarten, if grandfather wasn«t home, he could become capricious — fall on the doorstep and say that something hurt or he was very tired. And if grandfather was home, then Saveliy immediately had no pain or fatigue — he would take off his outer clothes independently and behave calmly.

In recent years, Saveliy Korostelev«s life mainly consists of competitions in different cities and preparations for them at training camps. The young man lives separately from his mother but often calls her.

— We don«t have it such that I call him every day. If something is necessary, we write to each other first, respecting each other»s personal space, — Natalya shares with 59.RU. — Saveliy calls himself. And by timing, we already know when we are roughly busy.

Saveliy spends most of his time traveling: he, like his mother in her youth, has a nomadic lifestyle. In recent years, he is most often in Moscow. In winter and autumn, the athlete studies remotely, and in spring he takes exams in disciplines that cannot be taken remotely.

«Since You Started — Win»

Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages, Linguistics and Translation at Perm Polytechnic University, director of Lyceum No. 1 Petr Yuzmanov recalls that Saveliy successfully combined studies and sport. Sometimes he missed classes, but this did not prevent him from studying with grades of fours and fives, as well as successfully defending research papers.

Another university teacher, Vladimir Khristoforov, during Saveliy«s school years was responsible for physical education and mass work at the lyceum. As told by the press service of PNRPU, Khristoforov immediately noticed Saveliy»s interest in sport and began offering him to participate in lyceum events. But Saveliy often volunteered to compete in competitions himself.

— Already in the fourth grade, I invited him to the school team, and Saveliy«s contribution was significant: with him, the guys regularly made it into the top three at school, district, and city stages, — the coach recalls. — Around grades 8–9, he developed those sporting ambitions. He no longer just participated, but purposefully strove to compete, show results, and win.

Making the Forbes Rating

In May 2024, then 20-year-old Saveliy Korostelev made it into Forbes magazine«s »30 Under 30« rating.

The «30 Under 30» rating is a list of the best professionals under 30 who have gained recognition in the professional community and become known at the all-Russian or more global level. The best are chosen in categories like «Entrepreneurs», «Management», «Finance and Investments», «Science and Technology», «Social Practices», «Sport and Esports», «Art», «Music», «Fashion and Design», «New Media».

Forbes explained that Korostelev made the list because he is recognized as a two-time junior world champion. Back in 2022, president of the Cross-Country Skiing Federation Elena Vyalbe called Saveliy a discovery. And people started talking seriously about him at the end of the 2023 ski season — then the Perm native beat three-time Olympic champion Alexander Bolshunov and won the overall standings of the Russian Cup. Another Olympic champion, Alexander Legkov, called Saveliy Korostelev the «sigma-boy» of skiing, noting his ability to stand out among other athletes.

«Sigma-boy» — a term from youth slang. This word refers to a charismatic, self-confident guy, independent of crowd opinion, setting his own rules and achieving success.

In early 2025, a song of the same name by Maria Yankovskaya and Betsy (real name Svetlana Chertishcheva) went viral online. It hit the trends and was popular abroad: users recorded videos dancing to the track.

The young skier is active on social media: his posts on his Telegram channel are read and commented on by thousands of subscribers. Saveliy posts his photos and impressions related to his sports career and other life events there.

The athlete jokes about his successes and failures. For example, last week he published photos of his falls at competitions and a sign with the inscription «Korostelev»s Turn«. The shots were taken at the Raisa Smetanina Republican Ski Complex stadium in Vylgort — at this spot the athlete fell three times at different starts.

— Applied for a patent, — Saveliy captioned the photo.

«You Will Not Hear Political Slogans from Me»

In October, Saveliy Korostelev«s name was at the center of a scandal. Austrian skier Mika Vermeulen told the publication Langrenn that he had a frank conversation with Saveliy. Then Korostelev came to a training camp in Ramsau, there, according to Mika, he passed by his house, they started talking. The Austrian claimed that Saveliy burst into tears and admitted that he was sad because he couldn»t participate in the World Cup or the Olympics. According to Mika, the Russian athlete told him that he does not support the Russian president, but despite this, he is excluded from international competitions.

On the same day, Korostelev denied Vermeulen«s words in his Telegram channel. The athlete wrote that he »will have to raise this topic once after all«.

— Never say «never», but you have never heard and will not hear political slogans, statements, and such things from me. That«s the business of politicians, — Saveliy said. — Despite any circumstances in the world, I will be an adherent of the phrase »Sport is outside of politics«. To all those who want to profit from this story: let it remain on your conscience, mine is clean.

On January 21, the International Olympic Committee reported that several Russian athletes have been invited to the 2026 Winter Olympics. All of them will compete under a neutral status and in individual disciplines. Among them is Saveliy. Now he is already preparing for the competitions, this is the main start of the season and the last four-year cycle. Then there will be the World Cup final in Sweden or Norway — the skier plans to go there too. Besides, at the end of March — beginning of April there will be the Russian Cup final, in which Saveliy traditionally participates.

Parallelly, Saveliy competes in World Cup stages and trains together with Darya Nepryaeva, who has qualified for the games. In early January, he took fourth place in a tense race at the special World Cup stage «Tour de Ski», narrowly missing bronze to Norwegian Emil Iversen.

Earlier we told the story of a young hockey player from Kungur who conquered America: Matvey Michkov has been playing for the Philadelphia Flyers team for the second year.