MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Russia’s 2022 Olympic figure skating champion Anna Shcherbakova has been recognized as the 2022 European Figure Skating champion following teammate Kamila Valieva's four-year ban, the International Skating Union (ISU) said in a statement on Tuesday.
On January 29, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled to disqualify Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva for four years for violating anti-doping rules starting on December 25, 2021. "All competitive results of Ms. Valieva from December 25, 2021 are disqualified, with all the resulting consequences," the CAS press service said in a statement.
According to the ISU’s statement from Tuesday: "Kamila Valieva (RUS) will be disqualified from her first-place ranking" at the 2022 ISU European Figure Skating Championship in Tallinn, Estonia and the Top-3 will now be - 1st Anna Shcherbakova (Russia), 2nd Alexandra Trusova (Russia) and 3rd Loena Hendrickx (Belgium).
Besides winning the gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in the women’s figure skating event, Shcherbakova, 19, also won the 2021 World Championship in Stockholm.
Valieva’s doping case
On February 14, 2022, 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, 2022, that Valieva’s doping sample, collected on December 25, 2021 during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, returned a positive result for a banned substance, trimetazidine. This triggered the postponement of the awards ceremony for the 2022 Olympic team competition, won by Russia.
RUSADA imposed a provisional suspension on Valieva on February 8, 2022, but the Russian athlete submitted an appeal and it was granted the following day. The previous decision on the provisional suspension was voided by the RUSADA Disciplinary Committee.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) filed appeals against this decision but the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected them on February 14, 2022. The Russian skater was permitted to compete in the individual Olympic competition and finished fourth.