Andrei Rastorguev: the career of the Latvian baitlonist

Latvian biathlete Andrei Rastorguev has shown quite good results in various competitions for several seasons in a row. Despite the relatively small number of personal awards, the 28-year-old sportsman is considered one of the possible competitors for the leaders of the world biathlon.

Carier start

Andrei Rastorguev - biathlete, whose biography has a lot of bright spots by the age of 28, has been considered the main favorite of the Latvian national team for several years. For Aluksne, a native of the city, it all started at a young age. At his first official competition Andrei Rastorguev was declared at the age of 10 years. In 2005, the athlete began performing in junior world competitions, and in September 2006 he first ascended the podium, having won the Ufa summer pursuit race.

A year and a half later, Rastorguev also submitted to the winter race - in Slovakia, in January 2008, Andrei became the first in the sprint, becoming one of the four biathletes who did not make a single miss. Continuing to consistently show high results, in the world elite of biathlon, the Latvian came in the 2008/09 season, and held the first race in the second half of the World Cup. From the first competition, the young biathlete announced himself - the speed of the athlete allowed him to count on successful performances, but often the stumbling block for Andrei was shooting.

The first Olympiad

Thanks to his successes, Andrei Rastorguev got on the list of biathletes announced by Latvia for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. But, not having much experience of performances in races of this level, in personal races did not rise above the 50th line, and in the relay, having gone to two penalty circles, did not help the team to show a decent result.

Despite the failure at the Olympic Games, the experience gained was useful to Andrei. Already in the next season he often got into the top 10, and in February 2011 he was a step away from the medal, becoming the 4th in the individual race in the Italian Ridnaun. In 2014, the athlete had the goal of a successful performance at the Sochi Olympics, and, before the main start of the season, went to recruit a form for the European Championships.

"Golden Europe"

Continental championship was held in the Czech Nove-Place, and Andrei Rastorguev, a biathlete who did not know the taste of success at the world level before, was able to win two personal awards. In the individual race, which became the first in the program of the competition, the Latvian was able to get ahead of the German biathlonist Benedikt in just 0.3 seconds, but this was enough to win a gold medal. In the next race, in the sprint, Rastorguyev secured his success, with two misses having divided third place with Austrian Komatsom, who shot cleanly. Trying to take another medal Andrew decided not to take, keeping the strength before the main start.

At the Olympics in Sochi, the 26-year-old sportsman also managed to prove himself - according to the results of the sprint and mass start, the Latvian turned out to be in the 20 best, and in the pursuit race he managed to break through to the top ten in the final 9th line. Despite the lack of medals, the result was very good for Rastorguev. Now Latvian biathlete 28, and since the end of the Olympic Games he could not take more medals at the World Cup, but often with his performance the athlete gave hope to the fans, confidently fighting for getting into the top five.