MOSCOW (AP) — Russian figure skater Mikhail Kolyada has been ruled out of next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing after testing positive for the coronavirus.
The Russian Figure Skating Federation said on Tuesday that Kolyada tested positive ahead of traveling to a pre-Olympic training camp and has been replaced by first-time Olympian Evgeni Semenenko.
“Several days ago Mikhail Kolyada started feeling unwell,” the federation said. “For all this time the skater has not been training.”
Kolyada was the only member of Russia’s three-strong men’s team who had previously competed at the Olympics, and the only former world championship medalist after winning bronze in 2018.
Semenenko joins newly-crowned European champion Mark Kondratiuk and 2020 world junior champion Andrei Mozalev on the team.
The strict testing requirements before and during the Winter Olympics are likely to rule out more athletes as the Games approach. Two-time ski jumping gold medalist Andreas Wellinger is also missing out after he tested positive last week, one day before the German team was selected.
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