Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva is in first place after the women’s short program on Tuesday, her first event since being cleared to compete at the Olympics despite having tested positive for a banned substance in December.
The fifteen-year-old Russian skating prodigy handily took first place with a score of 82.16 despite stumbling on her opening jump, a triple axel. Russia’s Anna Shcherbakova, who scored 80.20 points, and Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto, who scored 79.84 points, rounded out the top three.
Valieva will look to hold on to her lead in the long program on Thursday. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided that it will not hold a medal ceremony for any event in which Valieva places in the top three while the matter of her positive drug test remains under investigation. Valieva tested positive for the heart drug trimetazidine on December 25 at the Russian nationals.
The results of the test were only delivered from a Swedish lab last week, after Valieva helped Russia win gold in the team figure skating event. There will not be a medal ceremony for the team event, in which Russia won gold and the U.S. won silver. If the Russian team is eventually disqualified over the positive drug test, the Americans will move up to gold, Japan will win silver, and Canada will win bronze.
A panel of judges for the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Valieva does not need to be provisionally suspended ahead of a full investigation. The decision was handed down less than 12 hours after a last-minute meeting was held.
Valieva’s lawyers argued she could have consumed trace amounts of her grandfather’s medication via a shared glass, or residue left on the counter, according to Yahoo Sports.
The court’s decision to allow Valieva to compete was heavily influenced by her age, as a minor is a “protected person” under Olympic rules, and therefore subject to a different set of rules from older athletes.
“The panel considered that preventing the athlete to compete at the Olympic Games would cause her irreparable harm in the circumstances,” CAS director general Matthieu Reeb said, according to the Associated Press.
The judges also took issues of fairness, Valieva’s clean test in Beijing, and the “serious issues of untimely notification” of the December test into account.
The ruling from the IOC will allow Valieva, who became the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Olympics during the team event, to continue skating until her case is resolved. Whether she will be allowed to keep the gold medal she helped win in the team event will be decided by a longer investigation by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).
The World Anti-Doping Agency will be able to appeal the RUSADA’s ruling and has said it wants to launch its own investigation.