The Appeals Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected an appeal by Andrejs Rastorgujevs (Latvia) against his ban for Whereabouts failures.

The Appeals Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has confirmed that an 18-month ban on Andrejs Rastorgujevs (Latvia), which had been imposed by the CAS Anti-Doping Division (CAS ADD), following three Whereabouts failures in 12 months, will remain in place. 

Rastorgujevs had appealed the earlier decision. However, the CAS Appeals Division stated that there is no argument or evidence justifying a reduction of the 18-month period of ineligibility. 

Last year 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’.

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

“The BIU will continue to provide good-quality educational information on the athletes’ obligations. However, the CAS Appeals Division has clarified that providing accurate Whereabouts information is the responsibility of the athlete. The Whereabouts Rule is fundamental to ensuring clean sport, and the BIU will ensure it is enforced within biathlon. I must stress, all athletes have a personal responsibility to keep their Whereabouts information up to date and to avoid missing any tests.”

Rastorgujevs won the gold medal in the Individual competition of the Open European Championships (OECH) in 2021. This result will now be disqualified.

The BIU has produced a video and article explaining the Whereabouts process and the importance of filing Whereabouts information, which can be found here.