Another Olympic gold medal for Martin Fourcade? Likely. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has announced that it has rejected the appeal of Russian biathlete Evgeny Ustyugov, crowned Olympic mass-start champion at the Vancouver Games in 2010. Now officially recognized as a doper, he will see his results annulled between 2010 and 2014, including his victory on the Canadian soil. The CAS decision confirms a sanction taken in 2020 disqualifying him from all competitions in which he participated between January 24, 2010 and the end of his career in 2014, for anomalies on his biological passport. The Russian had defended himself, trying to justify his high hemoglobin level by an improbable genetic mutation. In a domino effect that has become very common in the Olympic movement, the silver medalist in the race, Frenchman Martin Fourcade, will move up a rank and inherit the title. Slovakian Pavol Hurajt takes the silver medal and Austrian Christoph Sumann climbs onto the podium. Evgeny Ustyugov's last resort, but unlikely: to appeal the CAS decision to the Swiss Federal Tribunal (TSF). Fourteen years after the race, Martin Fourcade could soon become the only six-time Olympic champion in the history of French sport.
