“I don’t believe Valieva did anything intentionally” – Lakernik

Honorary Vice President of the International Skating Union (ISU) Alexander Lakernik shared his expectations regarding the court hearings on the doping case Kamila Valieva expressing confidence that the Russian woman did nothing intentionally.

The closed hearings of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the Valieva case with the participation of representatives of all parties will be held from September 26 to 29, 2023. At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the figure skater helped the Russian team to win gold in the team competition. Before the personal tournament, it became known that trimetazidine, a banned drug, was found during the doping control of the figure skater of the Russian Championship in December 2022. The CAS admitted the Russian to the individual competitions of the Games, where she took fourth place.

“I hope that this court is a legal body that will start from legal criteria and not from anything else. Do I believe in justification? This is divination on coffee grounds, I don’t do that. Knowing this girl and the whole situation, I don’t believe Camila did anything intentionally. The decision will be made by the court, I hope it will conduct the case according to legal criteria,” Lakernik said, as quoted by Metaratings.ru.

In January, the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Committee (DAC) of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) ruled that although the athlete committed an anti-doping rule violation, she bore “no fault or negligence”. Valieva avoided sanctions, except for the cancellation of her results on the date of sample collection – December 25, 2021. Subsequently, RUSADA, the International Skating Union (ISU) and the World Skating Agency Anti-Doping (WADA) appealed to the CAS. WADA demands that the 17-year-old athlete be disqualified for four years. Subsequently, all appeals were consolidated into a single proceeding.

Metaratings.ru