Vadim Sashurin

Born Vadim Leonidovich Sashurin on 19 February 1970, Petrozavodsk, Russia, he is a retired biathlete. Sashurin competed for Belarus. His first year in biathlon was 1979 and he made his World Cup debut on 19 January 1989. Sashurin participated in three Winter Olympic Games - in 1994, 1998 and 2002. His best results were from the Games in 2002 in Salt Lake City. Sashurin was 9th in the Individual, 12th in the sprint, 10th in the pursuit and 8th in the relay. Another wonderful position was coming 4th with the relay team in 1998 in Nagano. Sashurin took part in 9 World Championships over the years and won also 9 medals - 3 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze. On a World Cup level he made two individual victories. On 7 December 1996, Sashurin won the 10 km sprint in Östersund. The second win came four years later, on 17 March 2000 once again in the sprint discipline in Khanty-Mansiysk. His best overall finish was 7th in the 1999-2000 season. Vadim Sashurin had a fabulous career until he got caught using the banned steroid nandrolone in 2002-2003. He was banned for 15 months from competing. Unfortunately the ban got extended to 24 months after Sashurin failed to take part in an anti-doping campaign, as mandated by the IBU. This ban quickly led into his retirement from biathlon.