Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva could miss the 2026 Winter Olympics after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) voiced their opinion on the length of her potential ban.
The 16-year-old tested positive for the banned heart medication substance trimetazidine in December last year at her national championships.
However, the Russian's failed test was not revealed until she helped her country to team gold at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in February.
No medals have been given out for the team event until Valieva's case is resolved. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cleared Valieva to compete in the individual event at the Beijing Games, but a fall resulted in her finishing fourth.
CAS is dealing with the case and said that WADA want the Russian banned for banned for four years starting on the date that the court’s decision goes into effect.
The anti-doping agency also want the teenager disqualified for all of her results dating to last Christmas, the date of her positive drug test for a banned heart medication. The CAS statement said WADA is seeking "the athlete be sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility starting on the date on which the CAS award enters into force."
The disqualification would result in Russia being stripped of their team gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February and USA promoted to gold medal.
If the WADA request in granted then Valieva would miss the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy.
WADA president Witold Banka recently tweeted that WADA had taken the Valiyeva case to CAS after the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) did not meet a deadline of November 4 to deliver a verdict in the Russian's case.
CAS will now appoint a three-member panel of arbitrators and schedule a hearing to conclude the case. A CAS verdict is binding but subject to the right to appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal within 30 days on procedural grounds.
