BEIJING, February 15. /TASS/. Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva took the lead in the women’s singles competition at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China winning the short program on Tuesday.

Judges awarded Valieva 82.16 points for her short program. Her teammate Anna Shcherbakova earned 80.20 points finishing 2nd in the short program and Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto showed the 3rd best result of 79.84 points.

The 21-year-old Japanese figure skater was the last on the list of female figure skaters to perform the short program on Tuesday. She managed to oust another Russian figure skater, Alexandra Trusova, who had been 3rd with 74.60 points before Sakamoto hit the ice.

The 2022 Winter Olympics free skate program in women’s singles is scheduled for February 17.

Valieva is the youngest participant of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the age of 15. The figure skater is trained by Russia’s merited coach Eteri Tutberidze and she is the reigning champion of the European and Russian championships. She holds the World Records in ladies singles short program (90.45 points), in ladies’ free skate program (185.29 points) and in the combined result of two programs in ladies’ competitions (272.71 points).

On February 14, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) turned down an appeal filed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) against the decision of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to lift a temporary suspension of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva.

The International Testing Agency announced on February 11 that Valieva’s doping sample, collected on December 25, 2022 during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, returned a positive result for a banned substance. This triggered the postponement of the awarding ceremony of the 2022 Olympic team competition, won by Russia.

RUSADA imposed a provisional suspension on Valieva on February 8, but the Russian athlete submitted an appeal and it was satisfied the following day. The previous decision on the provisional suspension was cancelled by the RUSADA Disciplinary Committee.

However, the ISU, IOC and WADA filed their appeals later with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in order to overturn the previous decision of the RUSADA Disciplinary Committee.

Russian athletes at Beijing-2022

Due to international sanctions against Russian sports, athletes from Russia are competing in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing under the flag and logo of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) instead of the Russian national flag and state emblem.

The national anthem of Russia is also under sanctions at the Olympics in China. The First Piano Concerto by Pyotr Tchaikovsky was selected to be played at awarding ceremonies for Russian Olympians in Beijing.