WADA is seeking a four-year ban for Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva ©Getty Images

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has welcomed the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) seeking a four-year ban for Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva.

Valieva helped the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to win gold in the team event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, but the result still has an asterisk next to it because the then-15-year-old tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, as insidethegames exclusively revealed.

The sample in question was taken on December 25 2021, but only reported by a WADA-accredited laboratory in Stockholm on February 8.

Valieva was only cleared to compete in the women's singles event by the CAS after it opted against re-imposing a provisional suspension for the failed drug test, but she finished fourth after an error-strewn performance in the free skating.

Last month, WADA registered an appeal to the CAS seeking a ruling that Valieva committed an anti-doping rule violation and a four-year ban if found guilty, along with the disqualification of all of her results from December 25 2021 onwards.

That would mean the ROC would be stripped of its team gold at Beijing 2022, with the United States upgraded from the silver medal position.

USOPC chief executive Sarah Hirshland commended WADA for the latest development, and expressed the organisation's support for the impacted American athletes.

The US finished second in the figure skating team event at Beijing 2022, but athletes are yet to receive medals due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Kamila Valieva's doping case ©Getty Images
The US finished second in the figure skating team event at Beijing 2022, but athletes are yet to receive medals due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Kamila Valieva's doping case ©Getty Images

"This is good news and I want to thank WADA for taking this important step," Hirshland said.

"We will reiterate it is so important that the figure skating team event athletes who competed in Beijing get the resolution they deserve.

"Recall we still have a wildly successful team of athletes who have not yet been awarded a medal and while we aren’t sure what colour that medal will be, we have their backs, we’re anxiously awaiting for the day when they get those medals and the celebration that comes with it.

"They are top-of-mind for us, every day."

Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov has claimed that a ban on Valieva would be unfair.

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) has kept its verdict on the Valieva case confidential, stating it was necessary to do so as she was underage.

Sanctions imposed on RUSADA for a state-sponsored doping programme, reduced from four to two years by the CAS, are set to end on Saturday (December 17).

However, WADA President Witold Bańka has warned "RUSADA cannot be reinstated until all the further non-conformities arising from the virtual audit [in September] have been resolved".

Valieva was today one of 55 Russian athletes, accused of supporting the ongoing war in Ukraine, that was sanctioned by the Ukrainian Parliament.