Report: Russian biathlete fails doping test

Russian biathlete Irina Starykh failed a doping test with less than two weeks before the Winter Olympics, according to Russian sports website Championat, as translated by R-Sport.

Currently ranked seventh overall in World Cup standings this year, Strarykh was among the favorites to win the sprint event at the Olympics. 

Another biathlete, Ekaterina Iourieva, was also reported to have failed a doping test but the 2008 world champion in the 15 kilometer race was not named to the Olympic team. 

Russian Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko declined to comment on the matter.

"I haven't heard about this. I don't have information of that kind," he said, according to the news outlet. "Maybe I've missed something, but it hasn't been reported to me ... I don't know which of our biathletes could have been caught."