Polish short track speed skater Natalia Maliszewska tested positive for coronavirus

Polish short track speed skater Natalia Maliszewska tested positive for coronavirus when she arrived in Beijing for the Winter Olympics.

Natalia Maliszewska is the eighth Polish athlete to give a positive test and is in isolation, said the country’s Olympic Committee. She joins the infected quarantine skaters Natalia Czerwonka, Magdalena Czyszczoń, and Marek Kania, who are under quarantine.

As the 500m series in the short track tournament is set to start on Saturday, Natalia Maliszewska is in a race against time to take part. Athletes who test positive and show no symptoms can only be removed from quarantined if they provide two consecutive negative tests within 24 hours.

Natalia Maliszewska competed in the women’s 500m at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She won a silver medal in the 500m event at the 2018 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships held in Montreal. In 2019, she won a gold medal at the European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Dordrecht in the 500m event. Natalia Maliszewska ended the 2018-19 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup season by winning the general classification and becoming the 500m World Cup Champion. At the 2021 European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Gdansk, she won the silver medal in the 500m.