The results in women’s figure skating competitions of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing will be considered preliminary if Russian skater Kamila Valieva is in the top three, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams sais on Wednesday.
"They [the results] will be preliminary, obviously, pending further investigation," he said.
Valieva leads the competition after the short program with 82.16 points, followed by her teammate Anna Shcherbakova (80.20) and Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto (79.84). Russian skater Alexandra Trusova is fourth with 74.60 points.
The International Testing Agency announced on February 11 that Valieva’s doping sample, collected on December 25, 2022 during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, returned a positive result for a banned substance. This triggered the postponement of the awarding ceremony of the 2022 Olympic team competition, won by Russia.
RUSADA imposed a provisional suspension on Valieva on February 8, but the Russian athlete submitted an appeal and it was satisfied the following day. The previous decision on the provisional suspension was cancelled by the RUSADA Disciplinary Committee.
The 2022 Winter Olympics free skate program in women’s singles is scheduled for February 17.
