Canada, Russia file appeals against re-ranking of 2022 Winter Olympic team result

The dispute over the final standings in the figure skating team event at the 2022 Winter Games continued on Monday with Canadian and Russian Olympic committees lodging appeals with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the results were overhauled in light of Kamila Valieva testing positive for a banned substance.

CAS announced that four appeals have been filed about the way in which the International Skating Union (ISU) re-calculated the final standings in Beijing after discarding Valieva’s scores.

CAS said that Canadian skaters, their Olympic committee and Skate Canada had filed an appeal against the ISU decision, with the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), the Figure Skating Federation of Russia and the Russian skaters filing the three other appeals.

The then 15-year-old Valieva had competed in Beijing for ROC, who won the competition on the night but the distribution of medals for the event has been on hold for more than two years after Valieva’s failed drugs test was announced just days later during the Games.

Last month, Valieva was handed a four-year doping ban, effective from December 2021, stripping the ROC of the Olympic gold medal in the team event.

The Canadians filed their appeal to CAS stating that the ROC should be disqualified from the competition and they should be bumped up from fourth place to bronze.

But the ISU said the ROC total score even after Valieva’s marks were erased was still a point better than the Canadians.

The Russians, who according to ISU’s rejigged calculations finished third behind the United States and Japan, are claiming its ROC team should be moved back up into gold medal position.

CAS confirmed that the Canadians had asked for the rankings in the event to be changed to the United States getting gold, Japan silver and Canada bronze.

The Russian skaters who competed in the team event in Beijing have also appealed to CAS, asking the court to order the ISU to reinstate Russia’s gold medal.

“All four CAS arbitration procedures have just commenced. Given the early stage of the proceedings, no indication can be given as to when a hearing may take place, if any,” CAS said in a statement.