Valieva's test controversy, skating world record: Olympics update

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Russia believes that Kamila Valieva's test controversy is a misunderstanding. /VCG

• The International Testing Agency (ITA) has confirmed that Russian gold medalist Kamila Valieva, 15, tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine in December. The ITA also said that Olympic officials will fight Russia's decision to let the figure skater continue to compete at the Winter Games, while Russia has questioned the timing of the announcement and claims it is a misunderstanding. The Court of Arbitration for Sport's six-member panel is expected to meet in the coming days to discuss whether Valieva should be banned from the rest of the games or not.

• Meanwhile, German figure skater Katarina Witt has called for those responsible for letting Valieva compete to be banned from the sport for life, should the positive test be confirmed. "It is a shame, and the responsible adults should be banned from the sport forever!!! What they knowingly did to her, if true, cannot be surpassed in inhumanity and makes my athlete's heart cry infinitely," she said on Facebook.

• Speed skater Nils van der Poel smashed his own record on his way to winning gold in the men's 10,000m race. The 25-year-old Swede shaved three seconds off the record he set in the Netherlands last year and, in turn, picked up his second gold of the games so far.

• A record number of viewers are watching the games, with figures already exceeding the 45 million people who watched the entire 2018 event in Pyeongchang, according to Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services.

• Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami claimed gold in the women's super-G to end her run of near misses for a medal, having finished fourth in the past two Olympics. Her time of 1:13.51 was 22 seconds quicker than Austria's Mirjam Puchner, who finished in the silver medal spot.

• Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych held a sign up which read "no war in Ukraine" after the men's skeleton event amid the ongoing tensions between Ukraine and Russia. He went on to tell reporters: "It's my position. Like any normal person, I don't want war. I want peace in my country and I want peace in the world, so nobody wants it [a war]. That's my position. I fight for that, I fight for peace."

• Speed skater Martina Sablikova became the most decorated Czech Olympian in history after winning the seventh medal of her career in the 5,000m. Her time of six minutes and 50.09 seconds was enough to clinch bronze.

• Eleven new COVID-19 cases have been detected among games-related personnel – two among new airport arrivals, with the other nine being either an athlete or a team official in the "closed loop" bubble.

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