Background
He was born in Saint St. Petersburg and represents the club Dinamo Saint St. Petersburg.
He was born in Saint St. Petersburg and represents the club Dinamo Saint St. Petersburg.
He finished seventh at the 1998 World Junior Championships. He finished fourth at the 2002 European Indoor Championships in a time of 1:45.84 minutes, which would remain his indoor personal best for many years.
His personal best times are 1:44.33 minutes in the 800 metres and 46.50 seconds in the 400 metres. He progressed further to 1:46.61 minutes (July 1999, Tula) and 1:45.76 minutes (July 2000, Tula). He competed at the 2000 European Indoor Championships and the 2000 Olympic Games in both 800 metres and 4 x 400 metres relay without reaching the final.
A less successful period in international championships then followed.
He competed without reaching the final at the 2002 European Championships, the 2003 World Championships, the 2004 World Indoor Championships, the 2004 Olympic Games. He also competed in relay at the 2003 World Indoor Championships, but the team was disqualified.
He then competed without reaching the final at the 2005 World Championships, the 2006 European Championships, the 2007 World Championships and the 2008 Olympic Games. He finished fifth at the 2006 IAAF World Cup and the 2008 World Indoor Championships.
In the latter race he finally set a new indoor PB, 1:45.76 minutes, which still stands.
Outdoors he had set several successive personal bests, year by year: 1:45.72 minutes in 2002 (July, Cuxhaven), 1:45.28 minutes in 2003 (June, Seville), 1:45.12 minutes in 2004 (June, Ratingen) and finally 1:44.33 minutes in 2006 (July, Athens).