Olympic bronze medallist has ban extended by five months but is cleared to compete in January 2016 by Court of Arbitration for Sport

Carolina Kostner has had her ban extended by five months but will be eligible to compete on January 1 2016 ©Getty Images

Olympic figure skating medallist Carolina Kostner has had her 16-month suspension for being complicit in the doping cover-up of her former boyfriend and Olympic race walking champion Alex Schwazer extended by five months but has been cleared to compete from the beginning of 2016, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has announced.

Kostner, the 2012 world champion, could return to action as early as January 1 after settling a dispute with the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Her ban has been backdated to April 1, 2014, based on “procedural delays that are not attributable to Ms Kostner”, CAS said.

CAS added in a statement on its website that the 27-year-old, the bronze medallist in the singles at Sochi 2014, had agreed to a request from the National Anti-Doping Organisation of Italy to have her ban lengthened by a further five months.

An appeal from CONI had asked for a two-year suspension but the parties have agreed to it being increased to 21 months.

Kostner admitted that she had lied to drug testers when they arrived to test Schwazer, the Beijing 2008 50 kilometres race walking gold medallist, in July 2012, but denied any involvement with her former boyfriend’s doping.

According to lawyer Giovanni Fontana, she told inspectors that Schwazer was not home in order to "respect his privacy", before he was subsequently caught by testers in Italy.

Carolina Kostner admitted lying to anti-doping prosecutors about the whereabouts of former boyfriend and Olympic race walking champion Alex Schwazer but denied any involvement in his doping ©Getty Images

Anti-doping prosecutors had originally called for a four-year ban which would have ruled her out of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, before settling on the agreed 16-month term.

The announcement follows Kostner herself appealing to have her ban annulled to CAS at the same time CONI launched a conflicting appeal.

After the failed doping test, Schwazer announced his retirement from the sport, admitting he had “made a mistake” and that his “career was over”.

“Ms Kostner will be eligible to compete as from the beginning of 2016,” the CAS statement confirmed.