Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who returned to competition in January after a long doping ban, has once again been barred from competing in international events after losing her status as a neutral athlete, the International Skating Union (ISU) said Thursday.
Valieva, who was at the center of a doping scandal that rocked the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, is among 234 Russian and Belarusian athletes who applied for neutral athlete status, the sport's global governing body said in a statement.
Russian and Belarusian skaters were banned from international competition following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, although they were authorized to take part in events in the 2026/2027 season on the condition that they compete under a neutral flag.
To be granted this neutral status, athletes must meet three criteria: they must not be members of the army or security services of Russia or Belarus, must not have taken part in the war waged in Ukraine, and must never have publicly supported the war against Ukraine.
Mark Kondratiuk, the 2022 European individual champion, also had his neutral status revoked.
