Sergey Ustiugov


Sergey Aleksandrovich Ustiugov is a Russian cross-country skier, world champion and Tour de Ski winner.

Career

Early career

Sergey Ustiugov started doing cross-country skiing in the biathlon section of the sports school of the settlement Mezhdurechensky in 2001. His main coach was Ivan Gennadievich Vragin.
In 2011, Ustiugov won gold in sprint at the World Youth Cross-Country Skiing Championships in Otepää, Estonia. A year later he became four-times champion of the Youth Championships in Erzurum, Turkey, in the events sprint, 10 km race, skiatlon and relay as part of the Russian team. In 2013, he participated at the Junior Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic in the Under-23 classification, winning there two gold medals in 15 km free style and 30 km skiatlon. At the Junior Championships in Val di Fiemme in 2014 he won gold in individual sprint.

2011–15: World Cup debut and new coaching staff

Ustiugov debuted on 6 February 2011 at the World Cup in the relay event. Overall, out of 31 spots on the podium in World Cup individual events, Ustiugov finished 12 times in the first place, 10 times in the second place and 9 times in the third place. His best overall ranking to date was 2nd place in the 2016–17 season.
At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2013 in Vale di Flemme, Ustiugov with his relay team claimed the bronze medal. In the individual 15 km free style race he became 47th. In the same year he reached a podium place for the first time in Davos on 15 December, finishing third in free style sprint. The next month he won a stage in the Czech Nové Město in free style sprint. He debuted at the 2014 Winter Olympics in sprint, where he became fifth after falling down near the final passage. In May 2014, Ustiugov moved to a separate group of the national team headed by the Swiss-German duo Reto Burgermeister/Isabel Knaute and so left the group headed by Oleg Perevozchikov.

2015–17: Tour de Ski champion, world champion

In the 2015–16 WC season, in January 2015, he won the team sprint event with Alexey Petukhov at a World Cup stage in Otepää. In Rybinsk he became runner-up in free style sprint and third in individual 15 km free style. He participated at the 2016 Tour de Ski, reaching third place overall. In the Nove Mesto stage he won silver and bronze in 15 km free style event and relay event, subsequently. In February he won the mass start 15 km free style event in Swedish Falun. At the season-ending Ski Tour Canada he became 2nd overall, reaching five times the pedestal.
In October, Ustyugov and other skiers including Evgeny Belov and Stanislav Volzhentsev got into a conflict with the Swiss-German coaching duo Burgermeister-Knaute, and so President of the Russian Federation of Cross-Country Skiing and main coach of the national Russian team Elena Vyalbe allowed to switch Ustiugov the coaching group; the new coach became German Markus Kramer, who also coached 2014 Olympic Champion Alexander Legkov and other sportsmen.
In the new season, Ustiugov in January won the 2016-17 Tour de Ski. He won the first five stages and only in the sixth stage he lost the crown to Martin Johnsrud Sundby. In the last stage, the final climb, he started first and by saving the handycap won the overall tour. He was the second Russian after Legkov to win the Tour de Ski. Ustiugov also set a record for the most wins in succession. Before him, the record were four winning stages in a row, set by Johnsrud Sundby.
At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2017 he started by winning silver medal in the sprint competition. Then he went on winning his first ever gold medal at the Championships in 30 km skiathlon. With Nikita Kriukov he won his second gold medal in team sprint.
After the Championships, Ustiugov took another spot on the podium in Drammen, after finishing third in the final in classical sprint. Overall, he finished the season second after Johnsrud Sundby.

2017–18: Steadiness and Decline

Ustiugov did not start well in the next season, finishing 23rd in the Ruka Triple. However, between the Ruka Triple and the Tour de Ski, he rebounded and finished three times as runner-up in three different disciplines. At first he started well to defend the Tour de Ski title after he finished first, tenth and second in Lenzerheide, in sprint, individual and pursuit, respectively, beginning with the next stage he always finished beyond the top-10 position and in the pursuit climb did not participate, leaving him without a place in the overall tour ranking; during the mass start stage in Val di Fiemme he finished with pain in the back and so could not participate in the deciding stage.
Amidst the doping accusations in Russia, several clean athletes, including Ustiugov, An and Shipulin, were not invited by the International Olympic Committee to participate at the 2018 Winter Olympics, including Ustiugov. Prior to the Olympics, Ustiugov participated at the 50 km marathon event of the Ski Classics series in Cortina d'Ampezzo, finishing third. After his appeal and that of 46 other athletes to the Court of Arbitration for Sport were declined, Ustiugov participated at the Russian Cup created for dismissed athletes and won the team sprint with Alexander Legkov. He skipped the remaining stages that season.

2018–19: Comeback

On 23 October 2018, Ustiugov injured his finger while practicing in Val Senales with roller skis. Eight days later he was successfully operated in Moscow. He returned to practice on 4 November, and on 16 December he came back to sports in Davos, the eight stage of the new FIS World Cup season. Ustiugov finished 25th.
In the 13th edition of the Tour de Ski, Ustiugov won the second stage in 15 km individual freestyle, exactly a year after his last victory. After finishing third, third and second in Sprint F, 15 km C Mass Start and 15 km C Pursuit, respectively, Ustiugov failed in Stage 6, 15 km C Mass Start in Val di Fiemme. In the third-last round he got tired and fell behind from the leaders, while his teammates Sobakarev, Larkov and Vylegzhanin took the leadership. The Russians were outskated by Klaebo and De Fabiani before the finish line. Ustiugov finished 16th. In the last pursuit climb stage he rebounded and won over a minute and almost reached exhausted Klaebo after showing strong climb performance. As a result he finished 2nd in the overall classification.
Ustiugov finished the season at the World Ski Championships, during which he received problems with his gallbladders.

Personal life

Sergey Ustiugov was born in Mezhdurechensky as one of the youngest children in a large family; he is of Mansi descent. He married junior cross-country ski champion Elena Soboleva on 9 August 2019. Their child, Kira, was born on 17 January 2020.
He is nicknamed "The Moose" by his fans.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation.

Olympic Games

World Championships

Year Age 15 km
individual		 30 km
skiathlon 		50 km
mass start		 Sprint 4 × 10 km
relay 		Team
sprint
20132047———Bronze—
20152228——16——
201724—GoldSilverSilverSilverGold
201926—9—Silver—

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlace
12013–1415 December 2013 Davos, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd
22013–1411 January 2014 Nové Město, Czech Republic1.6 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
32014–1523 January 2015 Rybinsk, Russia15 km Individual FWorld Cup3rd
42014–1524 January 2015 Rybinsk, Russia1.3 km Sprint FWorld Cup2nd
52015–161 January 2016 Lenzerheide, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FStage World Cup2nd
62015–165 January 2016 Oberstdorf, Germany1.5 km Sprint CStage World Cup2nd
72015–161–10 January 2016 Tour de SkiOverall StandingsWorld Cup3rd
82015–1623 January 2016 Nové Město, Czech Republic15 km Individual FWorld Cup3rd
92015–1614 February 2016 Falun, Sweden15 km Mass Start FWorld Cup1st
102015–161 March 2016 Gatineau, Canada1.7 km Sprint FStage World Cup1st
112015–162 March 2016 Gatineau, Canada17.5 km Mass Start CStage World Cup3rd
122015–164 March 2016 Quebec City, Canada1.7 km Sprint FStage World Cup3rd
132015–165 March 2016 Quebec City, Canada15 km Pursuit FStage World Cup1st
142015–169 March 2016 Canmore, Canada15 km + 15 km Skiathlon C/FStage World Cup2nd
152015–161–12 March 2016 Ski Tour CanadaOverall StandingsWorld Cup2nd
162016–173 December 2016 Lillehammer, Norway10 km Individual FStage World Cup3rd
172016–1711 December 2016 Davos, Switzerland1.6 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
182016–1731 December 2016 Val Müstair, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FStage World Cup1st
192016–171 January 2017 Val Müstair, Switzerland10 km Mass Start CStage World Cup1st
202016–173 January 2017 Oberstdorf, Germany10 km + 10 km Skiathlon C/FStage World Cup1st
212016–174 January 2017 Oberstdorf, Germany15 km Pursuit FStage World Cup1st
222016–176 January 2017 Toblach, Italy10 km Individual FStage World Cup1st
232016–177 January 2017 Val di Fiemme, Italy15 km Mass Start CStage World Cup2nd
242016–1731 December 2016
– 8 January 2017		 Tour de SkiOverall StandingsWorld Cup1st
252016–1718 February 2017 Otepää, Estonia1.6 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd
262016–178 March 2017 Drammen, Norway1.2 km Sprint CWorld Cup3rd
272017–182 December 2017 Lillehammer, Norway1.5 km Sprint CWorld Cup2nd
282017–1810 December 2017 Davos, Switzerland15 km Individual FWorld Cup2nd
292017–1817 December 2017 Toblach, Italy15 km Pursuit CWorld Cup2nd
302017–1830 December 2017 Lenzerheide, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FStage World Cup1st
312017–181 January 2018 Lenzerheide, Switzerland15 km Pursuit FStage World Cup2nd
322018–1930 December 2018 Toblach, Italy15 km Individual FStage World Cup1st
332018–191 January 2019 Val Müstair, Switzerland1.4 km Sprint FStage World Cup3rd
342018–192 January 2019 Oberstdorf, Germany15 km Mass Start CStage World Cup3rd
352018–193 January 2019 Oberstdorf, Germany15 km Pursuit FStage World Cup2nd
362018–1929 December 2018
– 6 January 2019		 Tour de SkiOverall StandingsWorld Cup2nd
372019–2015 December 2019 Davos, Switzerland15 km Individual FWorld Cup2nd
382019–2028 December 2019 Lenzerheide, Switzerland15 km Mass Start FStage World Cup1st
392019–2031 December 2019 Toblach, Italy15 km Individual FStage World Cup1st
402019–201 January 2020 Toblach, Italy15 km Pursuit CStage World Cup2nd
412019–203 January 2020 Val di Fiemme, Italy15 km Mass Start CStage World Cup2nd
422019–204 January 2020 Val di Fiemme, Italy1.5 km Sprint CStage World Cup2nd
432019–2028 December 2018
– 5 January 2019		 Tour de SkiOverall StandingsWorld Cup2nd

Team podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlaceTeammate
12014–1518 January 2015 Otepää, Estonia6 × 1.5 km Team Sprint FWorld Cup1stPetukhov
2 2015–16 24 January 2016 Nové Město, Czech Republic4 × 7.5 km Relay C/FWorld Cup2ndBelov / Legkov / Chervotkin
3 2016–17 18 December 2016 La Clusaz, France4 × 7.5 km Relay C/FWorld Cup2ndBelov / Legkov / Chervotkin
4 2018–19 27 January 2019 Ulricehamn, Sweden4 × 7.5 km Relay C/FWorld Cup2ndLarkov / Bolshunov / Melnichenko
5 2019–20 8 December 2019 Lillehammer, Norway4 × 7.5 km Relay C/FWorld Cup1stYakimushkin / Belov / Poroshkin