He won a third straight national title in 1987 and also claimed his first win at the Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships. The indoor circuit was his focus that year and he claimed two bronze medals, first at the 1987 European Athletics Indoor Championships and then at the 1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships, placing behind Timmermann and Günthör at both events. He achieved a lifetime indoor best performance of to win his indoor national title in Penza and, as of 2015, this remains the Russian indoor record. It was six centimetres short of the Soviet record held by Sergey Kasnauskas (who took Belarusian citizenship after the dissolution of the Soviet Union).