Pankratow first appeared at the Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in 2001 in Karpacz . There he took seventh place over 10 km classic and became junior world champion with the Russian 4x10 kilometer relay. A year later at the Junior World Championships in 2002 in Schonach in the Black Forest , he only finished 42nd over 30 kilometers. He ran his first World Cup race in January 2003 in Kavgolovo , which he finished classically in 23rd place over 10 km and thus got his first World Cup points. In the same month he won gold over 10 km classic at the Winter Universiade 2003 in Tarvisio . At the beginning of the 2003/04 season in Kuusamo he achieved his first top ten place in the World Cup with sixth place over 15 km classic and came on the podium for the first time in Davos with second place over 15 km classic. In the further course of the season he achieved five top ten results in the World Cup, including third place with the relay in La Clusaz and in Otepää . In March 2004 he won his first World Cup victory in Lahti together with Vasily Rotschew in the team sprint. He finished the season in 20th place in the overall World Cup and 18th in the Distance World Cup. In the following season he came in the points five times, including three times in the top ten, and at the end of the season he finished 35th in the overall World Cup and 25th in the Distance World Cup. At the season highlight, the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2005 in Oberstdorf , he won the bronze medal with the relay. He also achieved 29th place in the 50 km mass start race and tenth place in the skiathlon . His best result in the World Cup in the 2005/06 season was ninth place in the skiathlon in Oberstdorf. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , he finished 18th in the 50 km mass start race. After finishing second at the beginning of the 2006/07 season with the relay in Gällivare , he won his second World Cup victory in La Clusaz with the relay. At the Tour de Ski 2006/07 he was tenth overall with three top ten results. At the following World Cup in Rybinsk , he took second place in the sprint. At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo in 2007 he was able to win the silver medal in the relay together with Vasily Rotschew , Alexander Legkow and Evgeni Dementjew . He also came in 36th place over 15 km freestyle and ninth place in the 50 km mass start race. To kick off the World Cup but he was from the World Ski Federation FIS with a five-day protective barrier due to excessive hemoglobin been occupied. At the end of the season he finished 21st in the Sprint World Cup and 16th in the overall World Cup. At the beginning of the following season he was in Beitostølen with the season third. At the Tour de Ski 2007/08 he finished 18th. He came in third place in Nové Město over 15 km classic. At the following World Cup in Canmore , he won his only individual World Cup victory in the skiathlon. He finished the season in 24th place in the overall World Cup and in 14th place in the Distance World Cup. In the 2008/09 season he finished 31st in the Tour de Ski 2008/09 and 41st place in the cross-country world cup final in Falun . His best season result in the World Cup was eighth place over 15 km classic in Nové Město . After finishing second with the relay in Beitostølen at the beginning of the 2009/10 season, he clinched his only classic victory in the Eastern Europe Cup in Krasnogorsk over 30 km . At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver , he finished 32nd in the skiathlon and eighth in the relay. At the end of the season he came in 23rd place at the cross-country skiing world cup finals in Falun and finished 45th in the overall world cup . After 22 ampoules of the calf blood preparation Actovegin and other doping aids were discovered near Pankratow on the Austrian-Swiss border in September 2010 , the Russian Ski Association RSA imposed a two-year doping ban on him in January 2011. After the ban had expired, he started at the military world championships in Sodankylä in March 2014 . There he achieved the 21st place.