CAS hearings in the case of Russian figure skater Valieva have been postponed and will resume on November 9 and 10

Hearings at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case of a Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva postponed and will resume on November 9 and 10, the court said in a statement.

On Thursday, Lausanne hosted the third day of closed-door hearings on appeals by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), the International Skating Union (ISU) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the decision of RUSADA DAK in the case of the athlete. Ultimately, it was decided to postpone the hearing.

— During the hearings held this week at the CAS headquarters in Lausanne (Switzerland), the panel of arbitrators seized of this case heard the parties (RUSADA, ISU, WADA and Ms. Valieva), their experts and witnesses. After the parties presented their evidence, the commission ordered additional documents and, to give the parties an opportunity to review them, allowed two additional days for the appeal to be heard.

The hearing will therefore resume on November 9 and 10 in Lausanne, when the presentation of evidence is completed and the panel will hear the final conclusions of the parties. The group will then hold discussions and prepare an arbitration award, the court said in a statement.

The CAS heard the case on September 26, 27 and 28. It was planned that, if necessary, the parties would meet on September 29. Valieva, 17, participated in the hearings via video link.

Valieva at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing helped the Russian team win gold in the team competition. Before the personal tournament, it became known that the banned drug trimetazidine was found during the doping test of the figure skater of the Russian championship. The CAS admitted the Russian to the individual competitions of the Games, where she took fourth place. However, the award of the winners of the team tournament has not yet taken place due to the investigation.

In January, RUSADA’s Anti-Doping Disciplinary Committee (DAC) ruled that although the athlete had 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, ISU and WADA filed appeals to the CAS, which were grouped into a single procedure.