Krushelnitckii tested positive for the banned heat attack drug meldonium at the Games.

The positive led to Krushelnitckii and wife Anastasia Bryzgalova being stripped of their bronze medal in the mixed doubles event at Pyeongchang 2018.

The bronze medals were awarded to Norway's Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, who the Russian team had beaten in the play-off for the bronze medal.

The duo, part of the neutral Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) delegation at the Games, lost their medal after an appeal to the CAS was dropped.

It was believed that the case was dropped as part of a deal for Russia to march under their own flag at the Closing Ceremony of Pyeongchang 2018.

World Curling Federation (WCF) had passed a motion to allow the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) Anti-Doping Division at the Games to determine further disciplinary sanctions.

The CAS Anti-Doping Division have now handed the curler a four-year ban.

“Mr Krushelnickii voluntarily accepted a provisional suspension beyond the period of the Games and reserved his right to seek the elimination or reduction of any period of ineligibility based on ‘no fault or negligence’,” the CAS decision stated.

“In this regard, the parties exchanged written submissions and were heard at a hearing which took place at the CAS headquarters in Lausanne on 19 September 2018.

“The Sole Arbitrator found that Mr Krushelnickii could not establish the source of meldonium in his sample and that his defence arguments were not supported by reliable or credible evidence.

“As a result, Mr Krushelnickii could not establish that his use of meldonium was non-intentional and therefore he did not qualify for the elimination or reduction of any period of ineligibility.”

Krushelnickii’s four-year ban is backdated to February 12, the date where he accepted his provisional suspension.

He could still appeal the sole arbitrator’s decision to the CAS Appeals Arbitration Division with 21 days.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, Russian Curling Federation President Dmitry Svishchev has confirmed Krushelnickii will appeal.

Following the test in February, the Russian Curling Federation had initially alleged an unidentified person may have spiked Krushelnitckii’s medals, which caused the positive.

The WCF reacted to the decision by stating they do not tolerate doping under any circumstances.

“The World Curling Federation acknowledges the decision of the Court of Arbitration of Sport relating to Aleksandr Krushelnitckii, the Olympic Athlete from Russia who committed an anti-doping rule violation at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea,” a WCF statement read.

“The World Curling Federation works hard to ensure a fair playing field for all its athletes and does not tolerate doping under any circumstances.”

Krushelnickii was one of two athletes representing the OAR team to fail tests at the Games.

Russian bobsleigh athlete Nadezhda Sergeeva accepted an eight month suspension in October following her positive test for trimetazidine, a drug usually used to treat angina, after finishing 12th in the two-women event with pilot Anastasia Kocherzhova.

Her initial suspension had been lifted after all parties agreed that her failure in Pyeongchang was down to a contaminated product.

The athlete reached a settlement agreement with the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation in October.

Her backdated eight month suspension expired on October 22, freeing Sergeeva to return to competition.