Since the rules for the event changed on January 1, 2005, Alifirenko has been most successful in his adaptation to them. After a bronze medal at the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships and a gold medal at the pre-Olympic World Cup competition in Beijing in April 2008, it was a setback for the Russian team when he had to withdraw from the Olympics due to eye illness. In October 2008 Alifirenko was suspended for 2 years after he failed a drug test for dexamethasone doping.