Bobsledder Anastasia Kocherzhova, left, the team-mate of Nadezhda Sergeeva, right, who was one of two Russian athletes to fail a drugs test at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, has decided to put her career on hold ©Getty Images

Bobsledder Anastasia Kocherzhova, the team-mate of Nadezhda Sergeeva who was one of two Russian athletes to fail a drugs test at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, has decided to put her career on hold.

Kocherzhova and Sergeeva were the two-woman silver medallists at the 2017 European Championships in Winterberg in Germany. 

The following year, they finished 12th in the same event at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

This result was cancelled, however, following Sergeeva's positive test for trimetazidine, a drug usually used to treat angina, during the Games.

Kocherzhova missed the 2018-2019 season and has now told Russia's official state news agency TASS she has made the decision to "suspend" her sports career.

"I cannot rule out that one day I will have a desire to return to bobsled," she added.

"And now I work as a head coach in one of the Irkutsk sports training centres."

Anastasia Kocherzhova and Nadezhda Sergeeva finished 12th in the two-woman bobsleigh event at Pyeongchang 2018, but the result was cancelled after the latter's positive test for trimetazidine ©Getty Images
Anastasia Kocherzhova and Nadezhda Sergeeva finished 12th in the two-woman bobsleigh event at Pyeongchang 2018, but the result was cancelled after the latter's positive test for trimetazidine ©Getty Images

Sergeeva, who has been included on the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) registered testing pool for the 2019-2020 season, served an eight-month ban last year.

The IBSF had initially sought a four-year sanction before reducing their demand after accepting Sergeeva's contaminated product explanation.

Sergeeva's suspension concluded in October after it was backdated from February and she will be on the Russian team for the upcoming season.

The 32-year-old has since filed a lawsuit against the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia and the manufacturer of the drug, Metionin, as she believes they were at fault for her positive test.

She claims there was no mention on the product's packaging or labels that it contained trimetazidine, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited substance list.

Sergeeva is one of three Russian bobsledders included on the registered testing pool for the 2019-2020 campaign by the IBSF.

Vasiliy Kondratenko and Alexey Zaitsev, who both competed on the neutral Olympic Athletes from Russia team at Pyeongchang 2018, have also been named on the list.