CAS declines provisional suspension on Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva

BEIJING - The Ad Hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has declined to impose a provisional suspension on Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, the CAS announced on Monday.

Valieva had been provisionally banned on Feb 8 when a sample taken in December last year returned a positive result for banned substance trimetazidine. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) held a hearing on Feb 9 and lifted the provisional ban to allow the Beijing 2022 team event winner to continue competing in the women's singles.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) thus filed applications against RUSADA's decision to lift Valieva's provisional suspension.

"The applications filed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) have been dismissed," CAS said in a statement after its hearing on Sunday.

According to CAS, the untimely notification of the result "impinged upon the Athlete's ability to establish certain legal requirements for her benefit, while such late notification was not her fault, in the middle of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022".

The ROC won the team event gold on Feb 7.

CAS also said the young skater, considered as a "Protected Person", did not test positive during Beijing 2022 and her positive anti-doping test taken in December 2021 is still under a disciplinary procedure, "the Panel considered that preventing the Athlete from competing at the Olympic Games would cause her irreparable harm in these circumstances," read the CAS statement.

"In conclusion, the Panel determined that permitting the provisional suspension to remain lifted was appropriate," it said.

The women's single's short program takes place on Tuesday.