Earlier, we saw cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov secure

Earlier, we saw cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov secure gold in the 30km skiathlon. In his press conference, the Russian athlete hit back at reporters “hinting at doping” by querying his dominant performance.

“We have clean sportsmen, clean athletes who are at the Olympics who do doping tests almost every day,” Bolshunov said. “I believe it’s wrong to ask us these questions – you don’t achieve these results all of a sudden, you don’t become an Olympic champion, because it takes years and years of training.”

The ROC cross-country skiing coach, Yuri Borodavko, was banned by the Russian ski federation for two years in 2010 for being “involved in doping cases”. He has always denied any involvement, and maintains that his suspension was a formality.