CAS announces 18 month ban for biathlete in whereabouts case

The Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS ADD) today announced a 18-month ban on Andrejs Rastorgujevs (Latvia) following 3 whereabouts failures in 12 months.

The CAS partially upheld the charges brought against the athlete by the Biathlon Integrity Unit, but reduced the period of ineligibility from 24 to 18 months. The CAS ADD issued the following decision on Rastorgujevs:

• Andrejs Rastorgujevs is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to Article 2.4 of the IBU ADR (three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period).

• Andrejs Rastorgujevs is sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of eighteen (18) months.

• The period of ineligibility shall commence on 11 March 2021, which is the start date of the provisional suspension imposed on Andrejs Rastorgujevs.

• All competitive results obtained by Andrejs Rastorgujevs from 1 July 2020 until the date on which the CAS ADD decision enters into force are disqualified, with all resulting consequences including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes.

Head of the Biathlon Integrity Unit, Greg McKenna, said:

“The whereabouts system is a core pillar of the global anti-doping structure and the BIU will make sure that it is upheld in our sport. All biathletes have a responsibility to keep their whereabouts information up to date and to avoid missing any tests. As we can see in this case, whereabouts failures can result in anti-doping rule violations and sanctions.”

Rastorguyevs finished in 30th place in the overall IBU World Cup in the previous season. He won the Gold medal in the Individual competition of the Open European Championships (OECH) in 2021 – a result that will be disqualified if there is no appeal or the CAS Appeals Arbitration Division upholds the verdict.

The CAS ADD award may be appealed to the CAS Appeals Arbitration Division within 21 days from receipt of the notification of the final award.