Biathlete Evgeny Ustyugov disqualified for doping. Without his gold, Russia lost first place in the medal count at the Sochi Olympics

The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has found Russian athlete Evgeny Ustyugov guilty of violating anti-doping rules.

Ustyugov was disqualified for two years, and all his results in competitions from August 2013 until the end of the 2013/14 season were annulled.

Among other things, Ustyugov and the entire Russian team were stripped of the gold medal they received at the Sochi Olympics for winning the men's relay, where he ran in the second leg.

Without this gold, Russia loses first place in the medal count of the Sochi Games. Norway takes first place.

The IBU also disqualified Russian Svetlana Sleptsova for doping, annulling her results from mid-2013 to mid-2014.

Ustyugov ended his career after the Sochi Olympics, Sleptsova in 2017. Both athletes, the head of the Russian Biathlon Union Vladimir Drachev told TASS, will challenge the IBU decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

• The decision to disqualify Ustyugov and Sleptsova, as the IBU explained, was made based on violations identified in the Moscow anti-doping laboratory.
• Previously, due to doping violations, some Russian athletes who won medals at the Sochi Olympics were disqualified, and their results were accordingly annulled.
• In 2019, it became known that changes to the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory database continued after its work was temporarily suspended in 2015. Due to the manipulation of doping test data, in December 2019, WADA suspended Russia from international competitions for another four years.