Kamila Valieva barred from international skating

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has been barred from international competition after losing her neutral athlete status, the International Skating Union said on Thursday.

Valieva, 20, was among 234 Russian and Belarusian athletes who applied for neutral status. Russian and Belarusian skaters were banned from international competition after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but were allowed to compete in the 2026/2027 season if they met neutral status conditions.

The ISU said 2022 European champion Mark Kondratiuk has also had his neutral status revoked. It said Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin do not meet the requirements.

Neutral status requires athletes not to be members of the army or security services of Russia or Belarus, not to have taken part in the war in Ukraine, and not to have publicly supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine or the war. The ISU did not specify which criterion Valieva had failed to meet.

Russia's sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev said the four skaters would challenge the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

Valieva returned to competition in Russia in January after a four-year doping suspension dating back to December 25, 2021. At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, she became the first skater to land a quadruple jump at an Olympics and won gold in the team event. During the Games, it emerged that she had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine after the Russian championships in December 2021.

Valieva said in her defence that the positive test resulted from accidental contamination. After appeals, Russia was moved to third place in the Olympic team event and Valieva was stripped of her medal.