Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was back on the ice for the first time in four years over the weekend, when the 19-year-old finished sixth in the semifinals of the Russian Jumping Championships.
Valieva served a four-year ban for involvement in a doping scandal that changed the trajectory of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing when she was 15.
Now at 19, Valieva attempted to start her comeback over the weekend, landing a difficult quadruple toe loop, but had an error on the landing, according to Reuters.
Valieva also fell on her second and was messy on her double flip, triple Salchow combination.
The Russian Jumping Championships are different than traditional skating events, as skaters have 90 seconds to go through their jumps and have generic background music playing, according to Reuters.
The weekend event had been Valieva’s first since the drama during the 2022 Olympics, where a positive drug test cost the Russian figure skating team gold in an event.
A sample that Valieva gave two months prior to the 2022 Winter Olympics came back positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance used to treat chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart, known as angina.
Valieva was disqualified from the team event, and the United States entry was awarded gold as a result.
She was allowed to compete in the women’s event that year, where she finished fourth.
Valieva cannot qualify for the Milan Cortina Olympics, meaning if she wishes to get to her sport’s biggest stage, she’ll have to wait until 2030.
She served a four-year ban despite a long-running legal battle to overturn it, which included appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Fans of Valieva held a banner that read “we waited,” and soft toys were thrown onto the ice, the BBC reported.
She told state television, “I love this sport and am so happy to be here.”
