page_title: Doping in figure skating
section_title: Russia
hierarchical_section_title: Doping in figure skating / Countries / Russia
caption_attribution_description: English: Russian figure skater Elizaveta Tuktamysheva at the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships.
context_page_description: Doping in figure skating involves the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs, specifically those listed and monitored by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Bans can be enforced on figure skaters by the International Skating Union and each country's individual skating federation. These bans can often be career ending due to the competitive nature of figure skating. A ban may be revoked if it can be proved that the skater tested positive for a prescribed medication. Some figure skaters will use PEDs to help with recovery time, allowing them to train harder and longer. Figure skating is an aesthetic sport that combines both athleticism and artistic licence, where weight-loss substances will have little effect on athletic performance but skaters may be perceived as more graceful and sleek, which is required for an athlete to be competitive.
context_section_description: In 2016, a former European ice dancing champion Ekaterina Bobrova failed a doping test as she tested positive for meldonium at the European Figure Skating Championship which is banned under WADA, in turn ruling her and her partner Dmitry Soloviev out of the 2016 World Figure Skating Championship. Meldonium has been used to treat chest pains though some state that it has the potential to increase fitness level according to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list. Though this ban was overturned since there are was less than one microgram of meldonium and due to the uncertainties around how long it stays in the body. "Bobrova's suspension was subsequently lifted by the ISU, which stated it had decided "to stay the results management process and consequently not to disqualify any results at the present stage."
  In 2000, Elena Berezhnaya, a pairs skater, tested positive for pseudoephedrine, which was stated that she had been taking cold medication to treat bronchitis approved by a doctor and hadn't informed the ISU, resulting in her 2000 European Figure Skating Championship gold medal being stripped. This resulted in three-month disqualification from the date of the test, thus the pair missed the World Championships that year as a result of the disqualification'
  Yuri Larionov a male pairs skater Junior World Championships and winner of the 2007 Junior Grand Prix finals paired with Vera Bazarova, was suspended for an anti-doping violation for 18 months (January 2008 to July 2009) for using Furosemide a powerful diuretic which the World Anti-Doping Agency classifies as “masking” anabolic and steroids. Yuri Larionov stated the use of the Furosemide was for weight loss but diuretics but it can be used as a masking agent for the use other substances, Though he claims that "during the month of December he had bought and then took a over-the-counter drug which behind his back contained a banned matter"
  Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, has publicly stated she has used meldonium before the ban but stopped when the ban was introduced in 2016.  During the figure skating season 2014-15, she won the 2015 World Figure Skating Championship and many question whether this is related to her use of meldonium as she competed thirteen times that season. A well known figure skating coach Rafael Arutyunyan questions the use of PEDs and "whenever [an] athlete does that and says I’m dying, which is why I’m taking the pills, and then, she doesn’t die anymore, but the drug helps her to recover better, to train more, to add more power to his jumps". Though "some experts said that the evidence for such claims are scant and that it was not even clear if the drug improves athletic performance"
  In 2019, Alexandra Koshevaya was sanctioned for a two-year suspension (March 7, 2019 and ending on March 6, 2021) for testing positive for torasemide for violating anti-doping rules during the 2019 Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk by the ISU. She mistakenly had taken the medicine to reduce swelling (edema) in her foot and not consulted the detailed a sport doctor about the ingestion of torasemide. According to the ISU Disciplinary Commission the  "Alleged Offender concluded by regretting what had happened and taking the obligation never to take any medicine without prior consultation with specialists again." 
  In 2019, Anastasia Shakun, an ice dancer with Daniil Ragimov, at the national level and a member of the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSFR). She received a one year ban( November 10, 2018 and ending on November 9, 2019) from the ISU, as she claims she mistakenly took furosemide during competition for an eye problem. She was "suspended from practices and participations in all competition", and explained she had taken furosemide at the advice of pharmacy before the competition to deal with  eye swelling and "forgetting that it was on the Prohibited List"
caption: Elizaveta Tuktamysheva at Worlds Figure Skating Championship (2015)
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