Kamila Valieva’s Impartial Athlete Standing Revoked by ISU, AP Supply Says

Russian determine skater Kamila Valieva has had her permission to compete internationally as a impartial athlete revoked, an individual conversant in the scenario informed The Associated Press on Saturday.

The individual stated Valieva was initially granted impartial standing below a brand new International Skating Union rule for this season, which states that skaters from Russia and Belarus are “presumed eligible unless they fall within the disqualifying criteria.” That standing was then withdrawn over considerations a couple of potential breach of standards that bar skaters from impartial standing if they’ve beforehand supported Russia’s warfare in Ukraine, the individual stated.

The identical standing has been withdrawn from Russian males’s skater Mark Kondratiuk, who was Valieva’s teammate on the 2022 Beijing Olympics, in line with the individual, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of particulars of such circumstances usually are not sometimes made public.

The ISU is because of rule on appeals from each skaters by the center of subsequent week, the individual stated. If the choice stands, the athletes may take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The revocation was first reported by Russian information media. Valieva has not commented on her standing, and the ISU has not issued a public assertion on the case.

The ISU barred skaters from Russia and Belarus from competing internationally in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, earlier than permitting a restricted quantity to return for final season’s Milan Cortina Olympics and a qualifying occasion. Two Russian determine skaters, Adeliia Petrosian and Petr Gumennik, competed on the Olympics however neither received a medal. For this season, the ISU eliminated the cap on the variety of impartial athlete locations and launched the presumption of eligibility now at difficulty in Valieva’s case.

Under the ISU’s guidelines, skaters could also be refused impartial standing if they’re serving with navy or safety forces, have beforehand taken half in navy operations towards Ukraine, or have “actively and publicly supported that war” since 2022.

Valieva, then 15, turned the middle of a authorized struggle throughout the 2022 Beijing Games after a pattern she had given two months earlier examined constructive for the banned substance trimetazidine. The end result surfaced after she had already helped Russia win the staff gold medal, which was later stripped and awarded to the United States. Valieva went on to put fourth within the particular person girls’s occasion. She served a doping ban that expired in December 2025 and has since competed in Russian home occasions.