The Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) can confirm that the Latvian biathlete Andrejs Rastorgujevs has been charged and provisionally suspended from competition due to a potential Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) in the form of a whereabouts failure according to Article 2.4 IBU ADR.

The BIU has taken the decision to provisionally suspend Mr. Rastorgujevs as a result of three filing failures within twelve months under the Whereabouts Rules as defined in the World Anti-Doping Code. 

The BIU is strongly committed to upholding international Whereabouts Rules, under which it is the responsibility of the athlete to correctly file and detail their whereabouts so that they can be located for out-of-competition testing at any given time. Under the strict liability provisions of the World Anti-Doping Code, it is the athlete’s responsibility to file correct and detailed whereabouts, and, if not, athletes will be held responsible. 

The athlete now has until 31 March 2021 to respond to the charge. In order to protect the integrity of this ongoing case, the BIU will make no further comment at the current time.