The death of the athlete was reported by the head of the press service of the Union of Biathletes of Russia, Sergey Averyanov. **Fought Illness for a Long Time** The cause of Chepikov's death was an oncological disease — the athlete's wife reported that Chepikov died after a prolonged battle with cancer. Two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Vasilyev also confirmed this information in a conversation with journalists: "In recent years, Sergey was seriously ill; he had cancer. He fought for a long time, tried many things... But the disease proved to be stronger," said the athlete. According to the Telegram channel SHOT, Chepikov passed away in the hospital. **From 'Biathlon Prince' to Olympic Heights** Sergey Chepikov was born on January 30, 1967, in the village of Khor in the Khabarovsk Krai. At the age of 13, he moved to Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), where he began to professionally engage in biathlon. The athlete's talent manifested itself quite quickly: at the 1987 Junior World Championship, he already won three gold medals, for which Finnish journalists dubbed the Russian athlete the "biathlon prince." A year later, at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Chepikov won bronze in the sprint and gold in the relay, becoming a full-fledged Olympic champion. But true success came to him only in 1994 at the Games in Lillehammer. There, Chepikov was the flag bearer for the Russian team at the opening ceremony and won gold in the 10 km sprint — the most valuable individual award of his entire career. Over nearly twenty years in sports, Chepikov participated in six Winter Olympics and won 6 Olympic medals: 2 golds, 3 silvers, and 1 bronze. In addition, the biathlete is a two-time world champion in 1989 and 2006, with 8 silver and 3 bronze medals from world championships.
