Biathlon: towards the end of the Evgeny Ustygov soap opera
Last September, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced that the joint appeal lodged by Evgeny Ustyugov and Svetlana Sleptsova had been rejected. This Tuesday morning, theBiathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) and theInternational Biathlon Union (IBU) issued a joint statement welcoming“the decision handed down by the CAS in the case of the biological passport of former athlete Evgeny Ustyugov”.
“The CAS Appeals Chamber upheld the findings of the CAS Anti-Doping Division, which determined that Mr Ustyugov had committed an anti-doping rule violation on the basis of the anomalies identified in his athlete’s biological passport,” it went on to say. This was a separate appeal, concerning only the Russian, from the one in September.
The BIU and the IBU welcome the decision issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the Biological Passport case of Mr Evgeny Ustyugov.
The CAS Appeals Division has upheld the findings of the Anti-Doping Division of CAS.
Full press release: https://t.co/6RqUR0fmrR pic.twitter.com/dYme4ewlzP– Biathlon Integrity Unit (@BiathlonU) November 26, 2024
Evgeny Ustygov’s four-year suspension is therefore confirmed. “In addition, all his results in competition obtained between 24 January 2010 and his retirement at the end of the 2013/2014 season are invalidated, including the associated medals, points and prizes. This includes the results obtained at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, where he received the gold medal in the mass start and the bronze medal in the men’s relay,” it states.
Several medals could soon be reallocated
While an appeal by Evgeny Ustyugov to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (SSS) is still possible, “such appeals are only permitted on narrow procedural grounds”, the notice reveals.
As a result, Martin Fourcade, who finished second in the mass start in 2010 behind the Russian, should soon be able to win a sixth Olympic gold medal. In any case, with this CAS decision, he is one step closer.
“The reallocation of medals can only be implemented after a final verdict by the SFT and a subsequent formal decision by the IOC Executive Board on the reallocation,” the press release finally explains.
Slovakia’s Pavol Hurajt should take silver and Austria’s Christoph Sumann bronze. In the relay, Russia is set to lose bronze to Sweden (Fredrik Lindstroem, Carl-Johan Bergman, Mattias Nilsson, Bjoern Ferry). As for Sochi 2014, Norway will take bronze in the relay.
