Nagornyy has a Spanish language tattoo on his ribs reading salvame y guardame (save and protect me), a reference to a common Russian Orthodox phrase.

[8] As a result of his involvement with "Kremlin-backed illegal and forcible mass transfer of Ukrainian minors, Russian disinformation and Russia’s nuclear sector," Nagornyy was sanctioned by the Canadian government in 2023.

[citation needed] Nagornyy was selected to represent Russia in men's gymnastics at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.

[13] Nagornyy was the most decorated male artistic gymnast at this Youth Olympics Game with a total of three gold, one silver, and one bronze medal.

[citation needed] At the 2016 Russian National Championships Nagornyy's Team placed 3rd, winning the bronze medal.

[citation needed] On August 6–16, Nagornyy competed with the Russian Team (together with Ivan Stretovich, Denis Ablyazin, Nikolai Kuksenkov and David Belyavskiy) at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he contributed scores of 15.000 in floor, 14.866 in rings, 15.400 vault; helping the Russian men's team win the silver medal with a total of 271.453 points.

Nagornyy won the all-around at the Russian Cup held in Ekaterinburg beating hometown competitor David Belyavskiy.

[citation needed] In December, Nagornyy competed at the Voronin Cup, where he won the all-around competition, as well as gold on floor and parallel bars, and silver on pommel horse.

[citation needed] Nagornyy competed at the 2018 Birmingham World Cup, where he won the silver medal in the All Around.

[citation needed] At the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Nagornyy competed on all 6 events, helping the Russian team to qualify in first place and qualifying in second place to the All Around Final, as well as to 4 apparatus finals- floor, pommel horse, rings and vault.

[citation needed] Nagornyy started his year at the 2019 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships where he was able to compete on all 6 events for the first time since 2016.

[citation needed] At the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, Nagornyy helped Russia to win gold in the team event, almost one-full point ahead of 2018 champion China, and Japan.

Nagornyy qualified first for the all-around event, and successfully retained that position in the final with a total score of 88.772, ahead of compatriot and also reigning champion, Artur Dalaloyan, and Olympic gold medalist Oleg Verniaiev.

[citation needed] In January it was announced that Nagornyy would represent Russia at the American Cup, taking place on March 7.

[25] However, in late February Nagornyy and Lilia Akhaimova announced on Instagram that Russia withdrew from the upcoming competition due to the escalation of coronavirus worldwide.

Nagornyy debuted a new skill on floor; a triple back pike, which was then named after him in the Code of Points.

[30] During the all-around final Nagornyy won the bronze medal behind Hashimoto Daiki and Xiao Ruoteng.

[citation needed] On 11 September, he along with his Olympic Team were awarded with Order of Friendship by President Vladimir Putin.

[33] Nagornyy is credited for being the first gymnast to complete the "triple back pike" on floor, graded with the value, I (0.9) in the Code of Points.