The Latvian biathlete Andrei Rastorguev has been showing quite good results in various competitions for several consecutive seasons. Despite the relatively small number of personal awards, the 28-year-old athlete every race is considered one of the possible competitors for the leaders of the world biathlon.
Carier start
Andrei Rastorguev is a biathlete, whose biography by the age of 28 has many bright spots, for several years it has been considered the main favorite of the Latvian national team. For a native of Aluksne, it all started at a young age. Andrey Rastorguev was announced at his first official competition at the age of 10 years. In 2005, the athlete began his performance in the junior world competitions, and in September 2006 he first entered the podium, winning the Ufa summer pursuit.
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 good results, the Latvian entered the biathlon world elite in the 2008/09 season, and spent the first race in the second half of the World Cup. From the first competitions, the young biathlete declared himself - the athlete’s speed allowed him to count on successful performances, but often shooting was the stumbling block for Andrey.
First Olympiad
Thanks to his success, Andrei Rastorguev was included in the list of biathletes announced by Latvia at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. But, not having much experience playing in races of this level, in personal races he did not rise above the 50th line, and in the relay race, having entered two penalty laps, he did not help the team show a decent result.
Despite the failure at the Olympics, the experience gained in performing was useful to Andrei. Already in the next season, he often fell into the top 10, and in February 2011 he was one 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 Olympics in Sochi, and, before the main start of the season, went to gain form at the European Championships.
Golden Europe
The continental championship was held in Czech Nove Mesto, 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 competition program, the Latvian was able to get ahead of the German biathlete Benedict Share by only 0.3 seconds, but this was enough to win a gold medal. In the next race, in the sprint, Rastorguev secured his success, sharing the third place with two misses with the Austrian Komats, who shot cleanly. Andrei decided not to take an attempt to take another medal, retaining his strength before the main start.
At the Sochi Olympics, the 26-year-old athlete also managed to prove himself - according to the results of the sprint and mass start, the Latvian was in the top 20, and in the pursuit race he managed to break his place in the top ten, taking the final 9th line. Despite the lack of medals, for Rastorguev the result was very good. Now the Latvian biathlete is 28, and since the end of the Olympic Games he was not able to take medals at the World Cup anymore, but often his athlete gave hope to his fans, confidently fighting for getting into the top five.