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Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has again been denied permission to compete internationally following a second round of checks after her status as a neutral athlete was revoked.
The International Skating Union said Thursday that Valieva was one of four Russian figure skaters, all 2022 Olympians, who were deemed “ineligible to compete as individual neutral athletes.”
The others are figure skater Mark Kondratyuk and the ice dance team of Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. In four cases, no specific reason was given.
“The ISU will not comment further on individual cases while any applicable appeal rights remain available,” it said.
The latest hurdle to Valieva’s career comes more than four years after controversy over her positive doping test overshadowed the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Valieva and other skaters have three weeks to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. There were no comments from Valieva or the Russian Figure Skating Federation.
More Russians can ride as neutrals
The ISU is allowing more Russians to compete as neutral athletes this season after most were suspended from its events following the invasion of Ukraine. It says they are “presumed to be eligible unless they meet the disqualifying criteria.”
This meant that skaters such as Valieva were briefly considered eligible to compete after filing for neutral status, only to have that status revoked soon after.
The ISU has banned skaters from Russia and its ally Belarus in 2022. This allowed a limited number of participants to return to the Cortina Olympics in Milan and last season’s qualifying competition. Two Russian figure skaters, Adelia Petrosyan and Pyotr Gumennik, competed at the Olympics in neutral uniforms, without national flags or symbols, but neither won a medal.
ISU rules say skaters may be denied neutral status if they serve in the military or security forces, have previously participated in military operations against Ukraine or have “actively and publicly supported this war” since 2022.
Valieva filed a lawsuit in human rights court
In a separate case, Valieva is also suing in connection with her doping disqualification process, which ended late last year.
A document released by the European Court of Human Rights on Monday said Valieva had filed a lawsuit against Switzerland over a Swiss Supreme Court ruling against her last year. At the time, she was trying to get the suspension overturned.
Valieva’s lawsuit to the European Court alleges that the Swiss court violated her rights by refusing to consider alleged new evidence in her favor, the ECHR document says. At the Swiss Supreme Court, Valieva’s lawyers presented an Associated Press news article from September 2024 alleging that the World Anti-Doping Agency withheld evidence.