Russian cyclist Egor Yurevich Toyanov, the 2024 Russian National BMX Champion, has been handed a three-year ban for an anti-doping rule violation involving meldonium, according to a ruling published Thursday 03 April 2026 by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).
RUSADA found Toyanov had violated Russian anti-doping rules 4.1 and 4.2 — presence, use, or attempted use of banned substances. The ban takes effect from the date of the formal decision, Monday 02 March 2026, with credit applied for a provisional suspension already served from Friday 04 September 2025. That means the 27-year-old cannot return to competition before September 2028.
Before the formal ruling was issued, Toyanov stated on social media that he had not knowingly consumed the banned substance and could not explain how it had entered his system. He pointed to a suspiciously low concentration of meldonium in his sample and suggested it may have come from a dietary supplement.
Meldonium, sold under the brand name Mildronate, is a metabolic modulator originally developed in Soviet Latvia in the 1970s. It is prescribed for cardiovascular and neurological conditions and is classified as a non-specified substance under the S4 category of the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List, where it has been banned since 2016. Athletes are believed to use it to boost endurance and accelerate recovery. It achieved notoriety in 2016 when tennis star Maria Sharapova tested positive for it.
Meldonium is not approved for use or sale in the European Union or the United States, though it remains widely available across Russia and parts of Eastern Europe.
The case is a stark reminder that meldonium — and other banned substances often contained off-label in dietary supplements — may pose a risk of returning positive anti-doping test results to athletes governed by WADA.
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