During last year's biathlon season, Margarita Vasileva was a frequent competitor in the World Cup. Her best individual result was a seventh place on the mass start in American Soldier Hollow. In the VC relay in Oberhof, she was allowed to jump at the top of the podium together with teammates Ekaterina Yurlova-Percht, Evgeniya Pavlova and Larisa Kuklina. In the same relay Sweden became seven.
She is now considered guilty of a doping rule violation. The International Biathlon Association, IBU, announces in a press release that the Russian will be suspended for 18 months.
Vasileva has 21 days to appeal the verdict to CAS, the sports arbitration court.