Volkonsky did not take up canoeing until the relatively late age of fifteen, when he was persuaded by friends to switch from judo. Since then he has been a regular medallist at the major championships, always in the four-man (C4) canoe. In 2006 Volkonsky finished fifth in the C4 1000m final at the world championships.
Volkonsky is a student at Tver State University.
He is coached by Gennady Shishigin and Sergey Kima.
He is a former world and European champion in the Canadian canoe C4 1000m. In 1999 he won two gold medals at the senior European championships in Zagreb in the C4 500m and C4 1000m. The same year he won the C4 1000m gold medal at the world championships in Milan. At the 2001 World Championships in Poznań he won a 500m bronze medal. In 2002 European Championship in Szeged he won two medals (500m silver and 200m bronze). Two years later he returned to Poznań to win two more European silver medals (200m and 500m).
