Kamila Valieva may miss the 2026 Winter Olympics

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva faces a four-year doping ban that would disqualify her from the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, announced the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

CAS announced it had registered the complaint from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which said last week it was referring the case to the Swiss-based tribunal. WADA claims Russian officials have made no progress in solving the case of 16-year-old Kamila Valieva almost a year after she tested positive for a heart drug.

The CAS statement said WADA wants “the athlete to be sanctioned with a four-year disqualification from the date the CAS decision takes effect”. If this is confirmed, Kamila Valieva will miss the next Olympics in Italy.

WADA also wants Kamila Valieva to be disqualified from all competitions from December 2021, when she tested positive for doping. That includes stripping her of the gold medal she won in the team event at the Beijing Olympics in February when she was 15.

The CAS statement noted that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) did not comply with the “reasonable time frame” for reviewing Valieva’s case, established by the rules of the WADA.