Feb 1 (Reuters) – Kamila Valieva’s comeback got off to an inauspicious start, as the former Olympic prodigy finished sixth in the semi-finals of the Russian Jumping Championships on Sunday in her first competition since serving a four-year doping ban.
The 19-year-old had a bobble on the landing of her opening quadruple toe loop, fell on her second and then finished with a messy double flip, triple Salchow combination.
Unlike traditional skating events, skaters had 90 seconds each to complete a series of jumps only with generic background music playing. The top three advanced to the final.
ALEXANDER NEMENOV via Getty Images
Nearly four years after her involvement in a doping scandal that marred the 2022 Olympics, Valieva re-entered the spotlight on Saturday in the quarter-finals that featured a clean quad toe loop, a jump that only a small number of female skaters have landed.
Despite her error-filled skate on Sunday, fans waved banners with her name and hurled dozens of plush toys on the ice afterwards.
Valieva remains ineligible for the Milano Cortina Olympics, which begin on Friday. Three-time Russian national champion Adeliia Petrosian will compete as an Individual Neutral Athlete, and is considered among the contenders for the women’s title.
Valieva was 15 when she became the centre of a global controversy at the 2022 Olympics, after a sample taken two months earlier tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
The failed test emerged after she helped Russia win team gold, a result from which she was later disqualified, elevating the United States to the top of the podium.
Under intense scrutiny, she finished fourth in the women’s event, receiving harsh criticism from her coach Eteri Tutberidze.
The minimum age for skaters at the Olympics has since been raised to 17.
