The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will hear the case against Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva from September 26 to 29, the organization announced.
“The Council of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is responsible for the dispute between the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), the International Skating Union (ISU), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, will hold court hearings with the participation of the parties and their representatives of 26, 27, 28 and 29 September 2023”, says the announcement.
The hearings will be held at the CAS headquarters in Lausanne (Switzerland). Some parties, witnesses and experts are reported to be able to participate in the hearings via video link. Discussions will be held behind closed doors. Based on the results, a CAS commission will prepare a decision, the date of its announcement is not yet clear.
The parties will be able to appeal the CAS decision to the Swiss Federal Court within 30 days.
The 17-year-old Russian figure skater tested positive for the banned substance “trimetazidine”. It was found in her sample from December 25, 2021, but the test result was not announced until February during the Beijing Olympics. By then, she had already won gold in the team event at the Olympics.
Kamila Valieva was allowed to participate in the individual tournament in Beijing 2022, in which she took fourth place. The figure skater is the European champion from 2022 and holds the world records for the highest marks in the short and free programs, as well as the one in the overall.
In January of this year, the RUSADA Disciplinary Committee acquitted Kamila Valieva after finding that the figure skater had committed an anti-doping rule violation, but it was not through her fault or negligence. No sanctions were taken against her, except for the annulment of her results from the Russian championships, where she won a gold medal in late December 2021.
WADA disagreed with the decision and challenged it before CAS. The organization demands that Valieva be punished for four years. RUSADA and ISU also became parties to the case. On April 23, it was announced that CAS had consolidated the appeals of all parties.
