Ice Skating

Figure skating world championships a fresh start for many without Russians (USA TODAY) The figure skating world championships held immediately after the Olympic Games often are viewed as an afterthought. What’s the point, the thinking goes. The biggest event of the past four years has just been held, so it can be difficult for skaters to rally again, and so quickly, for another major international competition.

An Olympic gold medal-winning skater married to Putin's spokesman is the latest Russian sports star slapped with sanctions (Business Insider) A former Russian figure skater who once dressed as holocaust victim for a routine has been sanctioned by United States over her links to the Kremlin.

Russian figure skaters banned from world championships but not for reason we expected (USA TODAY) Less than two weeks after Russia turned one of the marquee events of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games into a bizarre and troubling fiasco, all of its figure skaters were banned from the upcoming world championships, not because of the country’s state-sponsored doping, but because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

US figure skater Timothy LeDuc becomes first openly nonbinary athlete to compete at Winter Olympics (USA TODAY) LeDuc, whose pronouns are they/them, did not want the narrative to focus on the history ahead. They wanted it to be the beginning of a shift, a way of showing queer people that they have the opportunity "to be open and be authentic to themselves and everything that makes them unique, and still achieve success in sport."

Clubbiness of IOC makes its awful handling of Valieva case even worse (USA TODAY) It was impossible to watch Kamila Valieva’s implosion and not be utterly horrified, and International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach was rightfully harsh Friday in his reaction to it. Avoiding specific mention of coach Eteri Tutberidze, he condemned her complete lack of empathy for the 15-year-old and expressed concern that Valieva will continue to be in harm’s way after she leaves the Winter Games in Beijing.