ITA confirms Russia’s Kamila Valieva tested positive for banned substance

The 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine in a sample collected on Christmas Day, the Independent Testing Agency has confirmed.

However Valieva’s sample, which was taken by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada), was only analysed by a Swedish laboratory on Tuesday 8 February. That was a day after she led athletes representing the Russian Olympic Committee to gold in the team figure-skating.

The medal ceremony for the Russian team’s victory – in which Valieva hit two quad jumps – was subsequently suspended. It is still unclear whether the ROC will lose their medal or if Valieva will be allowed to compete in the individual figure skating event on Tuesday.

Valieva continued to train in Beijing on Friday, but did not talk to the media. She is allowed to practise after she challenged her provisional suspension and a Rusada committee ruled in her favour. However that decision is now being challenged by the International Olympic Committee, and her legal case is ongoing.

In a long and detailed statement, the ITA stressed that Valieva is “a ‘Protected Person’ under the World Anti-Doping Code – this status applies to persons under the age of 16.”The ITA added: “To state the facts chronologically, a sample from the athlete was collected under the testing authority and results management authority of the Rusada on 25 December 2021, during the 2022 Russian Figure Skating Championships in Saint Petersburg, Russia.“The Wada-accredited laboratory of Stockholm, Sweden, reported that the sample had returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for the non-specified prohibited substance trimetazidine on 8 February 2022. Following this, the athlete was provisionally suspended by