With the retirement of Konstantin Semenov, Stoyanovskiy and Yarzutkin are the most-experienced Russian pair on the FIVB World Tour.  Qualifying for Vienna due to their international ranking, the 20-year old Stoyanovskiy and the 21-year old Yarzutkin will be competing in their first FIVB World Championships after playing in four youth worlds and the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games in China were the Russians topped the podium.  Despite their age, Stoyanovskiy and Yarzutkin have reached a FIVB World Tour podium in both the 2016 and 2017 seasons highlighted by a bronze medal finish in Moscow earlier this year where the youngsters defeated three teams from Latvia, The Netherlands and Spain that competed in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.