Russian skater replaced due to positive COVID-19 test ahead of Olympics

Russian figure skater Mikhail Kolyada will be replaced by Evgeni Semenenko in the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics after Kolyada tested positive for COVID-19.

On Tuesday, the Russian Figure Skating Federation announced that Kolyada received a positive test result just before he was scheduled to travel to a pre-Olympic training, according to the Associated Press.

“Several days ago Mikhail Kolyada started feeling unwell,” the federation said. “For all this time the skater has not been training.”

The news outlet noted that Kolyada was set to be the only member of the Russian men’s team who had competed previously at the Olympics. He was also the only skater on the team who had previously secured a world championship medal.

Andreas Wellinger, who is a two-time ski jumping gold medalist for Germany, has also been ruled out of attending the Beijing Games after he tested positive for the coronavirus last week.

“The risk for him and for the team is too high,” team spokesman Ralph Eder said on Tuesday, the AP noted.