Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has been denied the opportunity to compete internationally again after a second round of assessments following the revocation of her status as a neutral athlete. The International Skating Union announced on Thursday that Valieva, along with three other Russian skaters who participated in the 2022 Olympics, did not meet the criteria to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes. The other athletes affected are men’s skater Mark Kondratiuk and the ice dance duo of Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. The ISU did not provide specific reasons for the decisions and stated that they would refrain from commenting further on individual cases as long as appeal options were available.
This setback in Valieva’s career comes after controversies surrounding her positive doping test during the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Valieva and the other skaters have the opportunity to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within three weeks. There has been no immediate response from Valieva or the Russian figure skating federation regarding the latest developments.
Following the conflict in Ukraine, the ISU has allowed more Russian athletes to participate as neutral competitors this season, with the presumption of eligibility unless they meet disqualifying criteria. This has led to situations where athletes like Valieva were briefly considered eligible after applying for neutral status, only to have that status revoked later. In 2022, the ISU banned skaters from Russia and Belarus before permitting a limited number to compete in the Milan Cortina Olympics and a qualifying event last season. Two Russian figure skaters, Adeliia Petrosian and Petr Gumennik, participated in the Olympics as neutrals without national symbols, although neither secured a medal.
The ISU regulations stipulate that skaters may be denied neutral status if they have military or security affiliations, have engaged in military actions against Ukraine in the past, or have shown public support for the conflict since 2022.
In a separate development, Valieva is pursuing legal action regarding the process surrounding her doping suspension, which concluded late last year. A document from the European Court of Human Rights revealed that Valieva filed a complaint against Switzerland concerning a Swiss supreme court ruling against her last year when she sought to overturn the suspension. The claim alleges that the Swiss court violated her rights by refusing to consider purported new evidence in her favor, including an Associated Press news article from September 2024 suggesting that the World Anti-Doping Agency withheld evidence.
