BEIJING (AP) 鈥� Teen sensation Kamila Valieva has been cleared for takeoff in women鈥檚 figure skating in a ruling in a Russian doping case that has caused havoc with one of the marquee events of the Beijing Olympics.
Valieva at this year's Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Monday she can compete this week despite failing a previous drug test.
The 15-year-old Valieva already set Beijing abuzz when she landed the first quadruple jumps by a woman at the Olympics during her thrilling performance that helped the Russians win the gold medal in the team event. She is the favorite in the women鈥檚 individual competition that starts Tuesday with the short program and concludes Thursday with the free skate.
Valieva has been practicing regularly since the doping scandal broke and skated in her allotted practice time slot shortly after CAS released its ruling. The ruling came less than 12 hours after a hastily arranged hearing that lasted into early Monday morning. CAS decided that she does not need to be provisionally suspended ahead of a full investigation. She tested positive for a banned heart drug on Dec. 25.
The court gave her a favorable decision in part because she was a minor 鈥� a 鈥減rotected person鈥� 鈥� and was subject to different rules from an adult athlete.
Now, Valieva and her fellow Russian skaters can aim for the first podium sweep of women鈥檚 figure skating in Olympic history.
The ruling doesn鈥檛 decide the fate of the gold medal she won as part of the team competition. The United States won silver and would be in line for gold if the Russian medal is revoked.
The International Olympic Committee said there will be no medal ceremony if Valieva places in the top three in the women鈥檚 individual event.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said the committee is disappointed by the message the ruling sends. She said athletes are being denied the right to know they鈥檙e competing on a level playing field and that it鈥檚 part of a systemic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia.
SHIFFRIN TO ENTER DOWNHILL
, her fourth event at the Beijing Games and the first time she鈥檚 competed in that event in her Olympic career.
She finished a second training session at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center with the 15th-fastest time among the women who didn鈥檛 miss a gate.
The two-time gold medalist in Alpine skiing did not finish her opening runs in either of her first two events, the two-leg giant slalom and slalom. She then finished ninth in the super-G, another race she hadn鈥檛 previously entered at an Olympics.
MONOBOB HISTORY
Kaillie Humphries of the United States made history by winning , the one-woman bobsled.
Humphries became the first woman to win Olympic gold for two different countries, and the first Olympian to win gold for both the United States and Canada. She also is the first woman to win three golds in bobsledding, with a chance for a fourth later this week in the two-person bobsled.
Humphries won two gold medals and one bronze for Canada. She joined the U.S. team in 2019 after saying she had suffered mental and emotional trauma and no longer felt safe being a part of that program.
When she crossed the finish line, she waved an American flag and chanted 鈥淯-S-A! U-S-A!鈥�
鈥淎s I age, I鈥檝e learned life is very unpredictable and we don鈥檛 always know our path forward and what the future holds,鈥� Humphries said. 鈥淲e do the best we can with each and every obstacle or path change that gets thrown at us. What鈥檚 important is to fight for ourselves.鈥�
American teammate Elana Meyers Taylor finished second, winning her fourth Olympic medal.
KISSING THE GAMES GOODBYE
American ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue won the bronze medal and then bent down and
鈥淚t was just a moment, I think, for both of us to say goodbye to Olympic ice and thank this journey that鈥檚 created, you know, the people that we are today,鈥� Hubbell said.
Their decade-long career ended with a last Olympic skate in the free dance, to Anne Sila鈥檚 鈥淒rowning.鈥�
The United States has medaled in each of the first three figure skating events at the Beijing Olympics. Hubbell and Donohue were part of the team silver medal before Nathan Chen won gold in the men鈥檚 event. Chen was part of a loud American contingent cheering on Hubbell and Donohue at Capital Indoor Stadium.
GO-GO-GO GU
filled with chives and vermicelli noodles while awaiting her score in slopestyle qualifying. Once she found out she finished third among the top 12 who moved into Tuesday鈥檚 final, she raced over to practice on the halfpipe for her third event later this week.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have time to sit in the lodge,鈥� China鈥檚 emerging freestyle star said later, following her halfpipe practice. 鈥淚鈥檓 a very aggressive practicer. For me, practice is go-go-go. I brought lunch. I was eating on the t-bar. I was done by the time I got to the top, and ready to drop in immediately.鈥�
The 18-year-old Gu has already won one gold, in big air.
WOMEN'S AERIALS
Xu Mengtao 鈥� a daredevil nicknamed 鈥淭ao Tao鈥� 鈥� landed a jump with three somersaults to become the first woman from China to win the gold medal in ski aerials. She leaned back and screamed into the air as the temperature hovered around minus-10 degrees F (minus-23 degrees C).
MEN'S SKI JUMPING
Austria clinched the gold medal in the ski jumping team event when Manuel Fettner soared 128 meters on his final jump. Fettner, Stefan Kraft, Daniel Huber and Jan Hoerl combined to score 942.7 points.
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Bernie Wilson, The Associated Press
