He studied at the East Siberian Technological Institute and trained with Nina Bobrova, and later at the Armed Forces sports society.

Skating for the Soviet Union, Pavel Pegov finished second behind Japanese skater Akira Kuroiwa at the World Sprint Championships of 1983.

He was the first speed skater to skate the 1000 m in less than 1 minute and 13 seconds and, although Igor Zhelezovski managed to equal this time six years later, Pegov's world record would stand undefeated for over ten years; Kevin Scott clocked 1:12.54 in Calgary 19 December 1993.

His four Medeo races of 36.68, 1:12.58, 36.57, and 1:14.83 gave him another world record – the sprint combination samalogue point sum 146.955.

[1] A few weeks after the Olympics, he finished second, behind Sergey Khlebnikov, at the Soviet Sprint Championships.