Russian bobsledder hit with doping ban

MOSCOW (AP) The Russian Anti-Doping Agency says bobsledder Denis Moiseichenkov has been banned for 2 1/2 years after testing positive for a banned substance.

Moiseichenkov failed a test at the Russian championships in October in Sochi, where he and pilot Evgeny Pashkov won their first national two-man bobsled title.

His ban was handed down by the Russian Bobsled Federation and is backdated to Nov. 12, the agency said. It did not specify which banned substance was found in Moiseichenkov's sample.

The 28-year-old Moiseichenkov has finished second and third in bobsled World Cup events and took silver at the 2010 world junior championships.

He finished eighth in the four-man event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver but did not make the Russian team for last year's Sochi Games.