PYEONGCHANG, South Korea: Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky was stripped of his Pyeongchang Winter Olympics bronze medal Thursday after admitting doping, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said.
The 25-year-old was one of 168 Russian athletes who passed rigorous testing to compete as neutrals in Pyeongchang after Russia were banned over a major doping scandal.
“The athlete has admitted the anti-doping rule violation; he is disqualified from the mixed doubles curling event,” the court said in a statement.
Krushelnitsky, who won mixed doubles bronze along with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova, has protested his innocence and officials have hinted at foul play.
But Krushelnitsky decided not to contest Thursday’s CAS hearing, saying it was “stupid to deny” testing positive for meldonium, an endurance booster.
However, CAS said Krushelnitsky, who is provisionally suspended, “reserved his rights to seek the elimination or reduction of any period of ineligibility based on ‘no fault or negligence’ following the conclusion of the Games.”
The International Olympic Committee will this week decide whether to lift Russia’s suspension in time for Russian athletes to carry the national flag at Sunday’s closing ceremony, taking into account the conduct of their athletes in Pyeongchang.
Norway’s Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten lost out to Krushelnitsky and Bryzgalova in the bronze medal play-off. Reallocating the medal is down to the World Curling Federation and the International Olympic Committee, CAS said.
Russian curler stripped of Winter Olympics medal for doping
Russian curler stripped of Winter Olympics medal for doping
Paolini races into round two to kickstart Australian Open
MELBOURNE: Jasmine Paolini powered into the Australian Open second round with a straight-sets demolition to kickstart the action in a hot and sunny Melbourne on Sunday.
The seventh-seeded Italian outclassed Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.
Paolini faces Poland’s Magdalena Frech or Veronika Erjavec of Slovenia next.
“It was pretty good today, I did not expect that,” she said of her emphatic win in 69 minutes.
“Always tough to play first round. I played pretty good. I was solid, focused, so happy.
“Before the match I was a little nervous, to be honest, but then stepped on court and felt good from the first ball.”
The 30-year-old broke her opponent’s serve immediately and raced into a 3-0 lead in just 10 minutes.
She polished off the first set in 26 minutes and although Sasnovich put up more resistance in the second, Paolini ran out a comfortable winner.
Paolini reached the finals of Wimbledon and the French Open in 2024, but her best result at Melbourne Park is the fourth round in the same year.
