Questions Swirl Around Russian Figure Skater in Her Olympic Debut

Dressed in black with her hair pulled into a bun, 18-year-old Adeliia Petrosian practiced at the Olympic rink in Milan a day before competition, landing jump after jump as cameras tracked her. Afterward she hurried past reporters and, in Russian, said: “Mood is excellent!” Petrosian is a contender for a medal — a three-time Russian national champion with a history of landing quadruple jumps — but her connection to the coaching team at the center of the biggest doping scandal in the sport’s history has drawn scrutiny.

Kamila Valieva, a former training mate, tested positive for the heart medication trimetazidine at the 2022 Beijing Games; Valieva’s result led to Russia being stripped of the team gold and a four-year ban for Valieva. Petrosian has not tested positive or been implicated.

Because Russian athletes were largely barred from international competition after 2022, Petrosian is relatively unknown outside Russia and the Milan Games are only her second senior-level event abroad since then.

Russia, Milan

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