MOSCOW, March 28 Curling player Alexander Krushelnitsky, who has served a sentence for doping, is getting ready take part in the 2022 Russian Championship. At the 2018 Olympics, Alexander Krushelnitsky and Anastasia Bryzgalova won bronze medals in the mixed doubles competition, but then the substance meldonium, banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), was found in the athlete’s blood. The duet was stripped of the award. In December 2018, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decided to disqualify Krushelnytsky for four years, the sentence ended on February 12, 2022.
"The last two years have passed insanely fast, there have been many significant and good events. It sped up time incredibly. Still, the disqualification has one plus: you can spend every day with your family. Already in April, I will take part in the Russian championship among men's teams, the team of Alexei Timofeev kindly invited me to their place. Our team training will start this Monday, the guys have arrived from the training camp, and we have the opportunity to train together. I myself have been slowly rolling since January, since we finally have a good skating rink in St. Petersburg and there is an opportunity to train there", the website of the Russian Curling Federation quotes Krushelnitsky.
«As for future plans, I would like to say that that the plans are the most ambitious.But I have seen from my own experience that your sports plans may not entirely depend on you.Four years is a serious layoff compared to the practice that I had before the Olympics.This season will show what shape I am in, and then it will be seen whether something can be done with this form,» the athlete added.