He was born in Sofia. He reached the semi-final in the 60 metres at the 1977 European Indoor Championships. He competed in the 100 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games without reaching the final. In the 4 x 100 metres relay, the Bulgarian team (Karanyotov, Vladimir Ivanov, Pavel Pavlov and Petar Petrov) finished sixth. He won the 1981 Balkan Championships. At the 1982 European Championships he finished eighth in the 4 x 100 metres relay together with Nikolay Markov, Petar Petrov and Ivan Tuparov.