The Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has opened a procedure against Aleksandr Krushelnitckii, who took bronze in the PyeongChang 2018 mixed doubles curling with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova. The CAS said that the procedure was opened at the request of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and has yet to set a date for a hearing.

It was widely reported that Krushelnitckii had tested positive for meldonium, an anti-ischemic drug that was added to the 2016 Prohibited List of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in a controversial manner. However, on 19 February, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) suggested that such reports may be inaccurate. “Due to a large amount of false information, which during the past two days has appeared regularly in various – primarily foreign – mass media about the positive doping test of one of the members of the Olympic Athletes from Russia team, I would like to emphasise that the official position of our delegation is consistent in the face that until we have the results from analysis of the B sample, we do not offer any comment on the situation, nor do we refer to the name of the athlete, or athletes, as well as the sport”, said OAR spokesperson Konstantin Vibornov in a a statement.

Any CAS decision to sanction Krushelnitckii is likely to be considered by an IOC taskforce headed by IOC Deputy Director General Pere Miró and Sports Director Kit McConnell, who will provide a complete report to the Olympic Athlete from Russia Implementation Group (OARIG) at the end of PyeongChang 2018. The taskforce will consider if the OAR delegation has complied with OAR Conduct Guidelines issued by the IOC on 5 December last year, which require adherence to IOC Anti Doping Rules. ‘Failure of a member of the OAR delegation to comply with existing rules or these guidelines may lead to an OAR invitation being revoked and/or the withdrawal of accreditation’, read an IOC statement.