Andrey Ruzavin

Andrey Viktorovich Ruzavin (russian: Андрея Викторович Рузавин; born 28 March 1986) is a Russian racewalking athlete who competes over the 20 kilometres race walk distance. He has a personal best of 1:17:47 hours for the distance, which ranks him in the top twenty of all time. Ruzavin was the silver medallist in the 20 km walk at the 2009 Summer Universiade and a bronze medallist at the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup.

He is a three-time participant at the Universiade (2009, 2011 and 2013) and a four-time entrant at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup (2004, 2010, 2012, 2014). He represented his country at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. He was the gold medallist in the 10,000 m walk at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics and the 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships. He has won three national titles: two summer and one winter 20 km title.

Ruzavin was suspended for doping in 2014 and in March 2015 he was handed a 30-month doping ban for abnormalities in his biological passport.

Career

Junior career

Born in Mordovia, Ruzavin attended Mordovian State University. He began competing in racewalking events as a teenager He made his international debut in the junior 10 km walk at the 2004 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, finishing in sixth place. He shared the team silver medals with Russian team mate Aleksandr Prokhorov.

His first individual medal followed at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics, where he edged compatriot Vladimir Kanaykin to win the 10,000 m track walk title. A gold medal double came the year after: he was the junior champion in the 10 km road distance at the 2005 European Race Walking Cup before going on to win at the 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships in a championship record time of 39:28.45 minutes.Andrei Ruzavin
RusAthletics. Retrieved on 2014-11-07.

First senior competitions

Ruzavin began to make an impact at senior level in 2006, placing fourth at the Russian Race Walking Championships. His first senior call-up came at the 2007 European Race Walking Cup, where he ranked 34th overall. At the 2008 national championships he competed over the novel 35 km distance and managed third place in a race won by world record holder Vladimir Kanaykin. Stepping up in distance, he entered the 50 kilometres race walk for the 2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, but did not perform well and failed to finish the competition. His performances over 20 km began to improve at the 2009 European Race Walking Cup, where he ranked 19th. He also edged up in the national rankings, coming second to Andrey Krivov in the 20 km event. He received his first senior medal at the 2009 Universiade, forming a Russian 1–2 with champion Sergey Bakulin. A senior title came at the end-of-season IAAF Race Walking Challenge Final, where he was victorious over the shorter 10 km distance ahead of both Stanislav Emelyanov and Eder Sánchez.

He came 38th at the 2010 IAAF World Race Walking Cup and managing only 17th in the 20 km race at the 2011 Universiade. Working under coach Viktor Chegin, his form turned around in the 2012 season as he opened with a personal best of 1:17:45 hours to win the 20 km title at the Russian Winter Walking Championships. He was beaten by training mate Sergey Morozov at the summer championships (although Morozov was banned for life from the sport for doping later that year). He gave his best performance of his career at that point at the 2012 IAAF World Race Walking Cup

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