The reigning Olympic skeleton champion, Lizzy Yarnold, has said she will give her Russian rivals the cold shoulder if their bans are overturned by the court of arbitration for sport before the Winter Olympics gets under way in Pyeongchang. There was also bad news for Team GB as the snowboarder Katie Ormerod was ruled out of the Games with a fractured right heel.

Cas is set to announce on Friday whether the appeals from 60 Russians, who were originally denied entry to the Games because they were implicated in state-sponsored doping in Sochi, have been successful.

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The list includes Elena Nikitina, the skeleton bronze medallist from 2014, and her counterpart Maria Orlova, who are among 51 athletes and nine support staff who hope to be allowed entry to Pyeongchang before the opening ceremony.

However Yarnold, who was named as Britain’s flag bearer on Thursday, said: “My emotional state with certain Russian athletes is to have no emotion. I’ve been through a rollercoaster these last few years. I enjoyed having conversations with Elena and Maria but now whenever I see them I will look at the floor and carry on. I’ve worked too hard to be here to allow someone else to draw me into a situation that I don’t want to be in.”

She added: “It has been challenging over the last few years knowing that there are doping issues in our sport. I do absolutely believe in fair and clean competition and it is difficult if the Russians will be here competing. I believe the IOC were correct in not inviting them to compete in Pyeongchang. But essentially it is me, my sled and the track so that is my focus.”

Yarnold was supported by the American two-time world champion skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender, who warned the Olympic spirit was “dying” because of Cas’ decision to overturn the lifetime Olympic bans on 28 Russians – including Nikitina – last week.

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Uhlanender finished fourth in Sochi, 0.04 seconds behind Nikitina, and remains unsure if or when she will get upgraded to a bronze medal.

“Initially when the IOC took such a strong stance to ban Russia and strip the medals, it gave the athletes who were holding on to the spirit of sport, hope. It strengthened our Olympic spirit,” she said. “When Cas took that away, it did the opposite. So I think we’re all turning to the IOC for reform and to take a strong stance to give us that spirit back. We’re holding to an Olympic spirit that feels like it’s dying.”

Meanwhile Ormerod suffered a severely fractured right heel in training on Thursday. She had sustained a fractured wrist on Wednesday’s during slopestyle training, but returned on Thursday, intent on competing on Sunday. However, the British Olympic Association on Thursday night announced her Games were over before they have begun and she faces surgery on Friday morning.