Early career Ustyugov competed his first junior championship in
Kontiolahti,
Finland, in 2005, reaching 12th place in the
individual and 42nd and 36th in the
sprint and
pursuit competitions, respectively. At the Biathlon Youth World Championships in
Presque Isle, Maine he was second in the
relay, first in the individual and pursuit, and fourth in the sprint. At the European Championships in
Langdorf-Arbersee Ustyugov won the relay competition.
2007–08 season The first junior "Izhevsk Rifle" (Ижевская винтовка), a national individual tournament, took place in December 2007. Ustyugov was second, with two misses and +0:39 time difference between himself and the winner, Andrey Dubasov. At the first stage of the new season, Ustyugov participated in all events at the
European Championships in
Geilo,
Norway. In sprint, he became 32nd with two misses, half a minute behind the Norwegian
Kokon Andersen. At the second sprint event, Ustyugov was 36th, producing four misses and being 2 minutes behind the winner, the German Daniel Graf. In the second stage of the championships, in
Torsby,
Sweden, he also participated on all events. In the sprint event he became 37th with two misses, 2 minutes behind the Russian Andrei Prokunin. Thanks to the good results in this season, Ustyugov could compete at the
Biathlon World Championships and the next
World Championships. The man debuted at the
2008–09 Biathlon World Cup in
Oberhof on 8 January 2009. In the relay competition he replaced
Ivan Tcherezov, who suffered from a high
haemoglobin level. Ustyugov only got to know it about one hour before the start. Although he was second behind Norwegian
Emil Hegle Svendsen, the Russian team's second place was nullified because
Dmitri Yaroshenko was positively tested for doping. He finished his debut season in
Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, as seventh – his best result at that time. At the ninth and last stage in Khanty-Mansisk, Ustyugov started as sixth, missed tree targets, and finished seventh at the pursuit event. At the 2009 Russian Championships, Ustyugov participated at three from five races. He was sixth at the sprint, eleventh at the pursuit, and ninth at the relay competition, in the latter as a part with the Krasnoyarsk Krai team. At the European Championships in
Ufa, Russia, Ustyugov participated at the sprint and pursuit events. At the first, he came in second, 11 second behind Norwegian
Rune Brattsveen, missing one target. In pursuit, Ustyugov finished 11th with four misses, 1 minute and 32 behind the German winner
Daniel Böhm. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Ustyugov was fourth in the overall ranking, behind
Ivan Tcherezov,
Christoph Sumann and Svendsen, but first in the Russian ranking list, earning 1275 points. The skier was nominated at the 2010
Biathlon World Awards in the category "Best Biathlete 2010", with Svendsen, Sumann,
Björn Ferry and
Vincent Jay. Svendsen became the winner. Because of troubles with his rifle, Ustyugov was 47th at the sprint event in Rasen-Antholz. At the 2010 Russian Championships, he only participated in the relay competition, finishing 8th as a member of the Krasnoyarsk team. .
Men's biathlon at the Olympic Games started with the spring competition on 14 February 2010. Then-coach
Vladimir Barnashov suggested that snow and rain influenced the skier's performance. Ustuyugov missed two targets and finished 15th, 1 minute and 40 seconds behind winner Vincent Jay. Two days later, he achieved the same result in the pursuit event, but now missing four targets. If counting the time only, Ustyugov finished third behind only
Dominik Landertinger and Christoph Sumann. On 18 February, Ustuygov came in fourth in the individual event; winner was Emil Svendsen, who 49 seconds faster than Ustyugov. Ustyugov became the first Russian since 1996 to win the mass start event on 21 February. Up to that date, no Russian could win gold in this discipline at neither World Championships nor Olympic Games. Silver went to the French
Martin Fourcade, and bronze to the Slovak
Pavol Hurajt. His relay team – Ivan Tcherezov,
Anton Shipulin,
Maxim Tchoudov – received the bronze medal on 26 February.The Austrian team came in second,0.2 seconds faster than the Russians. Norway won this competition. He was seventh in the individual competition in Ruhpolding, around 1 minute ahead winner Emil Svendsen. In the pursuit event he received an injury on his left forearm, finishing 31st. In the individual race of the 2011 European Championships, Ustuygov received the silver medal, missing three targets. Winner was the Ukrainian Artem Pryma, who was 9.7 seconds faster than Ustyugov. Ustuygov stated that he won't participate in the next European Championships due to conditions of growth. At the
Biathlon World Championships 2011 in Khanty-Mansisk, Ustyugov won two silver medals; first in relay with Anton Shipulin,
Maxim Maximov, and Ivan Tcherezov, second in mass start, losing there to Emil Svendsen. After the final shooting he had 10-seconds advantage to Svendsen, but the latter overtook him with 5 seconds advantage. Ustyugov got an invitation for the fun event, the World Team Challenge, which was reschuled in March 2011 because the stadium's roof collapsed in December 2010. The Russian pair, Ustyugov and
Svetlana Sleptsova, won the event, beating Germans
Katrin Hitzer and
Florian Graf by 11.5 seconds.
2011–12 season On 10 June 2011, Ustyugov was made honorary citizen of Krasnoyarsk, becoming the youngest person in the city's history to receive this honour. At the first stage of the
2011–12 Biathlon World Cup on 30 November 2011, Ustyugov finished fifth in the 20 km individual event in Östersund, Sweden. After the race, he noted: "Today it was hard to start as the beginner in the first race; still, I could not manage my excitement. Short: it is hard to start first. Ustyugov was third at the sprint event in Oberhof, Germany, on 7 January 2012, shooting down all targets. After the fifth stage, he climbed up to the 8th rank in the world ranking list. Ustyugov, who took up the 13th position in sprint in
Nové Město, Czech Republic, commented his result: "My well-being was good – I skied almost synchronously with the leaders. Condition and skis were just great. At the slope, even Simon Fourcade could not overtake me". ==Personal life==