[1] He won a bronze medal at the 1998 Asian Games, and later represented Kazakhstan at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Sitnikov made his official debut at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, where he shared bronze medals with China's Zhao Lifeng and Chinese Taipei's Huang Chih-yung in the 100 m freestyle (52.21).

[2] On the first day of the Games, Sitnikov placed twenty-first for the Kazakhstan team in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.

Teaming with Sergey Borisenko, Pavel Sidorov, and Andrey Kvassov in heat three, Sitnikov swam a lead-off leg and recorded a split of 52.56, but the Kazakhs settled only for last place in a final time of 3:28.90.

Swimming in heat five, he raced to a fifth seed by 0.15 seconds ahead of Chinese Taipei's Wu Nien-pin in 52.57.