Career
She is Junior World record holder in women"s 200 m backstroke. Ustinova (together with Svetlana Chimrova, Rozaliya Nasretdinova and Yulia Efimova"s) gold in 4x50 m medley at the 2013 European Short Course Championships was later disqualified due to Yulia Efimova"s alleged positive test for DHEA, a prescription steroid banned in professional sports. Ustinova herself was the subject of a reprimand from Russian authorities after abnormalities occurred in a doping test when she was 14 years old.
In light of her youth, no further sanction was made at the time.
She has competed at the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Doha, Qatar. In August 2–9, Ustinova competed at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, she reached until the semifinals in women"s 50 m backstroke and qualified for the finals in women"s 200 m backstroke, Ustinova finished in 4th place behind Katinka Hosszú and breaking a new Junior World record in a time of 2:07.64.
Ustinova then competed in the FINA Swimming World Cup series in Moscow, taking the gold medal in 200 m and bronze in 50 m backstroke.