Can the Quad God save figure skating?

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Figure skating and controversy seem to go hand in hand, and last season was a stronger example of that than most.

In February, the Beijing Winter Olympics were rocked by a doping scandal involving 15-year-old women's gold-medal favourite Kamila Valieva, who was allowed to continue competing after a drug test she took back on Christmas Day finally came back positive for a banned heart medication. Valieva crumbled under the scrutiny, stumbling to a fourth-place finish in the women's competition. But she and her Russian teammates were allowed to keep their victory in the team event pending an investigation (more on that later).

Four days after the closing ceremony in Beijing, Russia invaded Ukraine. Like many of sports' world governing bodies, figure skating's promptly banned Russian and Belarussian athletes, causing them to miss the world championships in late March. That eliminated the reigning world champs in three of the four disciplines and, in the minds of some, attached an asterisk to many of the medals.

WATCH | Previewing the Grand Prix at Skate America:

As the 2022-23 Grand Prix of Figure Skating season gets set to lift off Friday night near Boston, the Valieva saga and the Russian/Belarussian ban continue to hang over the sport. Here's the latest on those things, plus some other storylines to follow this season:

Russians aren't around, but their shadow remains

Eight months after the Russian Anti-Doping Agency said it would open an investigation into Valieva's positive test, the deeply corrupt organization (yes, the same one that played a key role in the country's massive, state-sponsored doping scheme) is still dragging its feet on that process. This is causing frustration for skaters from other countries involved in the Olympic team event (including fourth-place Canada) who are in line for a medal upgrade if the Russians are disqualified. Read more about that here.

Meanwhile, Russian and Belarussian athletes remain persona non grata in the figure skating community. Skating's world governing body decided in June to extend its ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus and to not hold any international competitions in those countries "until further notice." Russia has traditionally hosted one of the six regular stops on the Grand Prix circuit, but this year's (in late November) was moved to Finland.

In lieu of the Grand Prix, Russians will compete in their own shadow circuit of six events to be held around the country at the same time as the Grand Prix. Valieva is among those slated to skate in the opener in Moscow, which begins Friday.

WATCH | Catching up on Russian figure skating:

The Grand Prix season is finally back to normal (sort of)

For the first time in three years, skaters won't have to worry about competing in empty arenas and season champions will be crowned as the Grand Prix Final returns to the calendar in December in Italy. The Final — reserved for the top six in each of the four disciplines, based on results in the regular stops — was cancelled the last two years due to COVID-19 restrictions in the host countries (China in 2020 and Japan last year).

The shadow of the pandemic, though, continues to loom over the Grand Prix. With China still clinging to harsh COVID-19 measures, its annual stop on the circuit (cancelled last year) was moved to England.