He represented his country at the 1976 Summer Olympics and was a seven-time Soviet national champion, four times outdoors.

[2] He went on to compete at the 1974 European Athletics Championships, where he narrowly missed a medal in fourth behind Finland's Markku Taskinen.

[1] Ponomaryov was dominant nationally in 1977, taking the 800 m indoor title and an 800/1500 metres double at the Soviet Championships.

He was absent in the 1978 season but returned the following year to win his last national titles over 1500 m at the Soviet Indoor Championships and Spartakiad.

[2][6] In his last major international outing, he took his highest honour – a 1500 m silver medal at the 1979 IAAF World Cup behind West Germany's Thomas Wessinghage.