Albany Times Union (Sunday)

Valieva on list for now

Russian figure skater could face ban following Sunday court hearing

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Russian figure skating superstar Kamila Valieva was at a practice session Sunday, hours before the Court of Arbitratio­n for Sport was scheduled to meet to decide whether she’ll be allowed to compete.

The meeting of CAS is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Sunday and a decision is expected sometime Monday, less than 24 hours before Valieva is scheduled to skate in the women’s short program at the Beijing Games.

Valieva has been allowed to practice since Monday, when a drug test she took in December was flagged for traces of a banned heart medication. That was the same day Valieva helped Russia win the team gold medal with a dynamic free skate in which she became the first woman to land a quad lutz in Olympic competitio­n.

Valieva remains on the preliminar­y start list for the short program, drawing a spot in the final group among 30 figure skaters due on the ice Tuesday night at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing.

Valieva will start 26th if the Court of Arbitratio­n for Sport, allows her to perform.

The starting order for the short program is determined by splitting the field in half according to world rankings. The lowestrank­ed skaters then draw for the first 15 starting positions and the highest-ranked skaters draw for the second 15, meaning those who have legitimate medal chances will be last to take the ice.

Young You of Korea will follow Valieva before her two Russian teammates, Alexandra Trusova and world champion Anna Shcherbako­va. Kaori Sakamota of Japan drew the final starting number.

Bobsled: Kaillie Humphries has a big lead in the first part of the monobob competitio­n. Humphries is competing for the first time as an American citizen. It’s also the first time monobob, a one-woman bobsled, has been an Olympic event. The reigning world monobob champion finished two runs Sunday in 2 minutes, 9.10 seconds, giving her a massive lead of 1.04 seconds over second-place Christine de Bruin of Canada. De Bruin’s time was 2:10.14. Laura Nolte of Germany was third in 2:10.32, and three-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. is right in the medal hunt — her time of 2:10.42 putting her fourth. Barring a big mistake by somebody, it looks like four women remain in the mix for the three medals. They’ll be decided on Monday morning in Beijing, late Sunday night in the United States. The gap between Meyers Taylor and fifth-place Huai Mingming of China is nearly a half-second.

Alpine skiing: Marco Odermatt of Switzerlan­d is leading the first run of the Olympic men’s giant slalom with only lower-ranked skiers remaining. It’s the first time snow has fallen on an Alpine ski race at the Beijing Games and visibility has been an issue for skiers. Stefan Brennstein­er of Austria is 0.04 seconds behind in second and world champion Mathieu Faivre of France is 0.08 behind in third.

Slopestyle skiing: The slopestyle qualifying event has been postponed due to high wind, snow and low visibility. With the flags of different countries whipping in the wind at Genting Snow Park, the organizers made the decision to postpone the qualifying round. Eileen Gu, who lives in the United States and represents China, will be going for a second gold medal. She won big air last Tuesday.

 ?? Dean Mouhtaropo­ulos / Getty Images ?? Kamila Valieva has been allowed to practice as the Court of Arbitratio­n for Sport is set to meet on her eligibilit­y for the women’s figure skating finals.
Dean Mouhtaropo­ulos / Getty Images Kamila Valieva has been allowed to practice as the Court of Arbitratio­n for Sport is set to meet on her eligibilit­y for the women’s figure skating finals.

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