The Federal Court in Lausanne has rejected the appeal of figure skating star Kamila Valiyeva and confirmed a four-year doping ban against the Russian.
30.10.2025, 17:42
30.10.2025, 18:22
SDA
As reported by the AP news agency, the now 19-year-old must pay 7,000 francs in court costs and 8,000 francs to the World Anti-Doping Agency Wada and the International Skating Union ISU.
Before the court, Valiyeva's lawyers had presented an AP article from September 2024 to claim that Wada had committed procedural fraud in order to suppress evidence. The article was about experiments conducted by an experienced scientist in 2022 on behalf of the Russian anti-doping authority, which suggested that contamination was not impossible, but that deliberate ingestion of the banned substance was the most plausible explanation.
Five judges of the Federal Court declared that the arguments of Valiyeva's team were speculative and highly questionable. The scientist's report did not constitute conclusive evidence.
Tested positive in December 2021
Valiyeva's case has occupied sports lawyers since the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. A positive doping sample from the athlete came to light after the team competition. She had tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the national championships in December 2021. The International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) then banned her retroactively for four years.
As Valiyeva was only 15 years old at the time, she was considered a "protected person" under the World Anti-Doping Code and her identity should not have been disclosed. The secrecy failed. Valiyeva's legally enforced start at the Olympics ended as a scandal with a freestyle in tears, with the favorite only finishing in 4th place.
No Olympic participation
Valiyeva was allowed to resume training last week. However, it is no longer possible for her to take part in the Winter Olympics next February in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The last opportunity for Russian and Belarusian athletes to qualify under a neutral flag was at a qualification event in Beijing in September.
