Evgeny Ustyugov

Evgeny Romanovich Ustyugov (; born 4 June 1985) is a Russian former biathlete. Born to cross-country skiers, Ustyugov was introduced to biathlon at the age of three. He started his career in junior tournaments in 2005, before going professional three years later in the European Championships. He was Olympic champion in the men's 15 km mass start event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada until the win was revoked for doping violations.

In February 2020, it was announced that because of a doping violation he had been disqualified from all results in the 2013–14 season, including the 2014 Olympics. In October 2020 it was revealed that due to new testing his Vancouver 2010 medal would also be revoked due to doping. In November 2024, almost 15 years after the Vancouver Olympic Games, the CAS rejected Ustyugov's appeal for the deprivation of the Olympic gold medal. In May 2025, the decision of the Swiss Federal Tribunal was to reject the appeals of Ustyugov leaving the International Olympic Committee to formally reallocate Ustyugov's medals a gold and a bronze from 2010 and a relay gold from 2014 to other athletes. In September 2025 the IOC Executive Board approved the medal reallocations. The medals were officially reawarded at the Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games on 15 February 2026 in the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Arena after the regularly scheduled pursuit race (men) was finished.

Early life Evgeny Ustyugov was born in Krasnoyarsk, Soviet Union, on 4 June 1985, to an athletic family; his mother Olga Rudolfovna and father Roman Valeryevich were professional cross-country skier. Ustygov and his brother Alexander began skiing at the age of three. Ustyugov did not participate on club sports as they were too distant from home. For a long time skiing, and also climbing and Alpine skiing were his hobbies. In school he often participated on sport events. He discovered biathlon in the 1997 event "Pionerskaya Pravda" (Пионерская Правда). His family agreed upon Ustygov's wish to become a professional biathlete; his first coach was Viktor Ermakov.

Career

Early career Ustyugov competed his first junior championship in Kontiolahti, Finland, in 2005, reaching 12th place in the individual and 42nd and 36th in the sprint and pursuit competitions, respectively. At the Biathlon Youth World Championships in Presque Isle, Maine he was second in the relay, first in the individual and pursuit, and fourth in the sprint. At the European Championships in Langdorf-Arbersee Ustyugov won the relay competition.

2007–08 season The first junior "Izhevsk Rifle" (Ижевская винтовка), a national individual tournament, took place in December 2007. Ustyugov was second, with two misses and +0:39 time difference between himself and the winner, Andrey Dubasov.

At the first stage of the new season, Ustyugov participated in all events at the European Championships in Geilo, Norway. In sprint, he became 32nd with two misses, half a minute behind the Norwegian Kokon Andersen. At the second sprint event, Ustyugov was 36th, producing four misses and being 2 minutes behind the winner, the German Daniel Graf. In the second stage of the championships, in Torsby, Sweden, he also participated on all events. In the sprint event he became 37th with two misses, 2 minutes behind the Russian Andrei Prokunin. Thanks to the good results in this season, Ustyugov could compete at the Biathlon World Championships and the next World Championships.

The man debuted at the 2008–09 Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof on 8 January 2009. In the relay competition he replaced Ivan Tcherezov, who suffered from a high haemoglobin level. Ustyugov only got to know it about one hour before the start. Although he was second behind Norwegian Emil Hegle Svendsen, the Russian team's second place was nullified because Dmitri Yaroshenko was positively tested for doping. He finished his debut season in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, as seventh – his best result at that time. At the ninth and last stage in Khanty-Mansisk, Ustyugov started as sixth, missed tree targets, and finished seventh at the pursuit event.

At the 2009 Russian Championships, Ustyugov participated at three from five races. He was sixth at the sprint, eleventh at the pursuit, and ninth at the relay competition, in the latter as a part with the Krasnoyarsk Krai team.

At the European Championships in Ufa, Russia, Ustyugov participated at the sprint and pursuit events. At the first, he came in second, 11 second behind Norwegian Rune Brattsveen, missing one target. In pursuit, Ustyugov finished 11th with four misses, 1 minute and 32 behind the German winner Daniel Böhm.

At the end of the 2009–10 season, Ustyugov was fourth in the overall ranking, behind Ivan Tcherezov, Christoph Sumann and Svendsen, but first in the Russian ranking list, earning 1275 points. The skier was nominated at the 2010 Biathlon World Awards in the category "Best Biathlete 2010", with Svendsen, Sumann, Björn Ferry and Vincent Jay. Svendsen became the winner. Because of troubles with his rifle, Ustyugov was 47th at the sprint event in Rasen-Antholz. At the 2010 Russian Championships, he only participated in the relay competition, finishing 8th as a member of the Krasnoyarsk team.

Ustuygov won the 15 km mass start competition on 21 February 2010 in Vancouver. Men's biathlon at the Olympic Games started with the spring competition on 14 February 2010. Then-coach Vladimir Barnashov suggested that snow and rain influenced the skier's performance. Ustuyugov missed two targets and finished 15th, 1 minute and 40 seconds behind winner Vincent Jay. Two days later, he achieved the same result in the pursuit event, but now missing four targets. If counting the time only, Ustyugov finished third behind only Dominik Landertinger and Christoph Sumann. On 18 February, Ustuygov came in fourth in the individual event; winner was Emil Svendsen, who 49 seconds faster than Ustyugov.

Ustyugov became the first Russian since 1996 to win the mass start event on 21 February. Up to that date, no Russian could win gold in this discipline at neither World Championships nor Olympic Games. Silver went to the French Martin Fourcade, and bronze to the Slovak Pavol Hurajt. His relay team – Ivan Tcherezov, Anton Shipulin, Maxim Tchoudov – received the bronze medal on 26 February.The Austrian team came in second,0.2 seconds faster than the Russians. Norway won this competition. He was seventh in the individual competition in Ruhpolding, around 1 minute ahead winner Emil Svendsen. In the pursuit event he received an injury on his left forearm, finishing 31st.

In the individual race of the 2011 European Championships, Ustuygov received the silver medal, missing three targets. Winner was the Ukrainian Artem Pryma, who was 9.7 seconds faster than Ustyugov. Ustuygov stated that he won't participate in the next European Championships due to conditions of growth.

At the Biathlon World Championships 2011 in Khanty-Mansisk, Ustyugov won two silver medals; first in relay with Anton Shipulin, Maxim Maximov, and Ivan Tcherezov, second in mass start, losing there to Emil Svendsen. After the final shooting he had 10-seconds advantage to Svendsen, but the latter overtook him with 5 seconds advantage.

Ustyugov got an invitation for the fun event, the World Team Challenge, which was reschuled in March 2011 because the stadium's roof collapsed in December 2010. The Russian pair, Ustyugov and Svetlana Sleptsova, won the event, beating Germans Katrin Hitzer and Florian Graf by 11.5 seconds.

2011–12 season On 10 June 2011, Ustyugov was made honorary citizen of Krasnoyarsk, becoming the youngest person in the city's history to receive this honour.

At the first stage of the 2011–12 Biathlon World Cup on 30 November 2011, Ustyugov finished fifth in the 20 km individual event in Östersund, Sweden. After the race, he noted: "Today it was hard to start as the beginner in the first race; still, I could not manage my excitement. Short: it is hard to start first. Ustyugov was third at the sprint event in Oberhof, Germany, on 7 January 2012, shooting down all targets. After the fifth stage, he climbed up to the 8th rank in the world ranking list.

Ustyugov, who took up the 13th position in sprint in Nové Město, Czech Republic, commented his result: "My well-being was good – I skied almost synchronously with the leaders. Condition and skis were just great. At the slope, even Simon Fourcade could not overtake me".

Personal life

Graduation Ustyugov intended to enrol to the Physical Faculty for Culture at the Pedagogical Institute, but his grades hindered enrolment. He then sent his documents to the Divnogorsk Olympic Reserve School. A year later after taking the documents and handing in the required exams, he was enrolled at a daily mechanical faculty at the Siberian State Technological University. Bearing the difficult subjects and the physical overwork in mind he chose a different faculty, forest engineering, and studied extramurally (outside of the university). On 21 June 2010 he received a diploma by the Siberian State Technological University in forest engineering.

Family On 28 August 2009, Ustyugov married professional biathlete Alexandra Bondarenko. She gave birth to Veronika Ustyugova on 20 September 2010.

Biathlon results All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

Olympic Games EventIndividualSprintPursuitRelay 2010 Vancouver DSQ (4th) 15th 15th DSQ (1st) DSQ (3rd) 2014 Sochi 38th 16th 5th 19th DSQ (1st) — Mass start was added as an event in 2006, with the mixed relay being added in 2014.

World Championships EventIndividualSprintPursuitRelay 2009 Pyeongchang 55th 47th 20th — 6th — 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 13th 29th 12th DSQ (2nd) DSQ (2nd) 6th 2012 Ruhpolding 50th 30th DNS 10th — — 2013 Nové Město 48th 9th 16th 16th 4th — During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

Junior/Youth World Championships 3 medals (2 gold, 1 silver) EventIndividualSprintPursuitRelay 2005 Kontiolahti 12th 42nd 36th — 2006 Presque Isle Gold 4th Gold Silver

Individual victories 2 victories (1 Sp, 1 Pu) Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.