4 December 2018

The CAS ADD imposes a four-year period of ineligibility on curler Aleksandr Krushelnickii

The Anti-Doping Division (ADD) of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) created for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games has issued its Final Award on Sanctions in the procedure between curler Aleksandr Krushelnickii (Olympic Athletes from Russia/OAR, mixed doubles curling) and the World Curling Federation (WCF). A four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 12 February 2018 has been imposed on Aleksandr Krushelnickii.

On 22 February 2018, the CAS ADD issued a Partial Award in which Aleksandr Krushelnickii was found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation further to a positive in-competition doping control for Meldonium and was disqualified from the mixed doubles curling event at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. The results obtained by the OAR team in this event were disqualified with all resulting consequences and the athlete was excluded from the Games.

Mr Krushelnickii voluntarily accepted a provisional suspension beyond the period of the Games and reserved his right to seek the elimination or reduction of any period of ineligibility based on “no faultor negligence”. In this regard, the parties exchanged written submissions and were heard at a hearing which took place at the CAS headquarters in Lausanne on 19 September 2018.

The Sole Arbitrator found that Mr Krushelnickii could not establish the source of Meldonium in his sample and that his defence arguments were not supported by reliable or credible evidence. As a result, Mr Krushelnickii could not establish that his use of Meldonium was non-intentional and therefore he did not qualify for the elimination or reduction of any period of ineligibility.

Consequently, in accordance with the applicable anti-doping regulations, the Sole Arbitrator imposed a four-year period of ineligibility on Mr Krushelnickii commencing on 12 February 2018, the date on which he accepted his provisional suspension. Pursuant to Article 21 of the CAS ADD Rules, the Sole Arbitrator’s award may be appealed to theCAS Appeals Arbitration Division no later than 21 days from the notification of the award.

• This media release was published by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on 4 December 2018. Click here for the original.

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