Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has been denied the opportunity to compete internationally once again after undergoing 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 affected skaters 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 made in these four cases and stated that further comments on individual cases would not be provided as long as appeal options are available.
This recent setback in Valieva’s career comes in the wake of controversies surrounding her positive doping test during the 2022 Beijing Olympics over four years ago. Valieva and the other affected skaters have the option to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within three weeks. As of now, there has been no response from Valieva or the Russian figure skating federation.
The ISU has revised its stance on allowing more Russian athletes to participate as neutral competitors this season, following the exclusion of many Russian skaters from its events due to the Ukraine invasion. The organization now presumes Russian athletes as eligible unless they meet certain disqualifying criteria. Consequently, skaters like Valieva have experienced brief eligibility periods after applying for neutral status, only to have that status revoked shortly afterward. In 2022, the ISU prohibited skaters from Russia and Belarus from competing but permitted a limited number to participate in the Milan Cortina Olympics and a qualifying event last season. Although two Russian figure skaters, Adeliia Petrosian and Petr Gumennik, competed at the Olympics as neutrals without national symbols, they did not secure any medals.
According to ISU rules, skaters may be denied neutral status if they have affiliations with military or security forces, have been involved in military operations against Ukraine, or have publicly supported 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. Recently, a document from the European Court of Human Rights revealed that Valieva lodged a complaint against Switzerland concerning a Swiss supreme court ruling against her in 2024, where she sought to overturn the suspension. Valieva’s claim alleges that her rights were violated when the Swiss court rejected new evidence presented by her legal team, including an Associated Press article suggesting that the World Anti-Doping Agency withheld evidence.