Tearful Kamila Valieva summons up remarkable skate to lead short program after doping scandal at Winter Olympics

Teenage Russian skater Kamila Valieva shook off what has surely been the most challenging week of her life to finish first in the singles short program at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The 15-year-old produced an exquisite routine before she burst into tears, scoring 82.16, a 1.96 point lead over Russian team-mate Anna Shcherbakova, with Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto third ahead of Thursday’s free skate.

Ad/> Valieva has been the centre of attention since the start of the Games, when she became the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in competition to help the Russian Olympic Committee win gold in the team competition. /> Beijing 2022'It's good' — Valieva 'goes way clear' in top spot after routineAN HOUR AGO But barely 48 hours later, it emerged that Valieva had been notified of a failed drugs test from a sample in December.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport decided she could carry on competing due to “exceptional circumstances” relating to her age, and the timing of how she was notified of the result. Valieva’s team have blamed the identification of banned heart medication trimetazidine on contamination for treatment her grandfather was receiving.

No decision has yet been made on whether she will receive a doping sanction, meaning there will be no medal ceremony if the Russian finishes in the top three. Before all of the drama, British champion Natasha McKay, the oldest skater in the competition at 27, missed out on qualification for the free skate.

Her program was down on difficulty meaning she needed to land the opening combination of a triple loop and double toeloop, but she fell on the first half of that, meaning she had to weave the double toeloop into a triple salchow, which had a lower technical score. McKay