Aleksandr Krushelnitckii will return to competition at the Russian Championships ©Getty Images

Aleksandr Krushelnitckii will compete at the Russian Curling Championships following the conclusion of his four-year doping ban.

Krushelnitckii tested positive for the prohibited substance meldonium, a heart medication, during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.

Krushelnitckii and his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova had initially won a bronze medal for the Olympic Athletes from Russia team at the Games.

The pair were stripped of their mixed doubles medals due to the positive test, with the Court of Arbitration for Sport's anti-doping division banning Krushelnitckii for four years.

This followed the Russian withdrawing an appeal, which reportedly was part of an agreement to allow Russia to march at the Closing Ceremony of the Games in South Korea.

The four-year sanction included the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, with the ban ending during the Games on February 12.

Krushelnitckii had previously declared his intention to return to curling, with the Russian now due to compete at the National Championships next month.

"Already in April, I will take part in the Russian Championship among men's teams, the team of Alexei Timofeev kindly invited me to their place," Krushelnitckii told the Russian Curling Federation.

Aleksandr Krushelnitckii's four-year doping ban ended last month ©Getty Images
Aleksandr Krushelnitckii's four-year doping ban ended last month ©Getty Images

"Our team training will start this Monday, the guys have arrived from the training camp, and we have the opportunity to train together.

"Since January, I have been slowly rolling, since we finally have a good ice rink in St Petersburg and there is an opportunity to train there.

"Four years is a serious downtime compared to the practice that I had before the Olympics.

"This season will show what form I am in, and then it will be seen if something can be done with this form."

The Russian Curling Championships are scheduled to take place in Sochi.

The event will be held from April 13 to 21.

Krushelnitckii will be restricted to domestic competition until at least the end of this year.

The Russian Curling Federation was banned from competing for the remainder of the 2021-2022 season by the World Curling Federation earlier this month.

The decision came after the International Olympic Committee recommended that athletes from Russia and Belarus be removed from international competitions due to the invasion of Ukraine.