Ivan Sergeyevich Babikov (); born July 4, 1980, in

Syktyvkar Syktyvkar (, , ; , ) is the capital city of the Komi Republic in Russia, as well as its largest city. It is also the administrative center of the Syktyvkar Urban Okrug. Until 1930, it was known as Ust-Sysolsk after the Sysola, Sysola River. Ety ...

) is a

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n-born

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

cross-country skier who competed between 2002 and 2016. At the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

in Whistler, he earned his best finish of fifth in the 15 km + 15 km double pursuit, and was fourth in 2013 World Championship 15 km freestyle, representing

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He was raised in Kozhva,Pechora Region, Komi Republic) and studied at

Syktyvkar State University Pitirim Sorokin Syktyvkar State University (; ) is a public university in the city of Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic (Russia). With over 9,000 full-time students and more than 600 faculty members, it is the largest institution of high ...

Sport faculty (1997–2004).

Skiing

Babikov immigrated to Canada in the spring of 2003, as he and his mother joined his sister, who had moved to this country in 1998, in the Toronto area. Initially, Babikov had no intentions of skiing after his career had stalled in Russia. But that fall he moved to Canmore and began competing with the Canadian team, but with a Russian license from the International Skiing Federation (FIS). Without Canadian citizenship, however, he chose to return to Russia and was selected to compete for that country at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. He continued to compete for Russia in 2006-07 after a bid to fast-track his Canadian citizenship was unsuccessful. By this time, Babikov was determined to make his home in Canada, especially after his mother was granted her citizenship. Midway through the 2007-08 season, Babikov also officially became Canadian and began representing the maple leaf internationally in 2008-09. In January 2009 he finished first in the final stage of the Tour de Ski, becoming just the second Canadian man (and still just one of four) to win a World Cup race. It was the first World Cup victory by a Canadian man since

Pierre Harvey Pierre Harvey, (born March 24, 1957) is a Canadian sports athlete. He was the first Canadian male athlete to compete in both the 1984 Summer Olympics (road cycling) and 1984 Winter Olympics (cross-country skiing). Early life and career Born i ...

in March 1988. Babikov was part of the home team at Vancouver 2010, where the men’s cross-country team posted several unprecedented results. In the event now known as the 30 km skiathlon, Babikov placed a Canadian best-ever fifth in a race in which three Canadians were in the top-10. He also finished a best-ever eighth in the 15 km freestyle race and helped the 4 × 10 km relay team to a seventh place finish. Babikov has 33 individual career victories up to 50 km at lesser events from 2003 to 2006. He competed in 2006 Winter Olympics for Russia (he was 13th in 30 km skiathlon) and in the 2010 Winter Olympics in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, finishing seventh in the 4 × 10 km relay. In Vancouver he showed his best personal Olympic results: He was fifth in the skiathlon and eighth in 15 km freestyle. He announced his retirement from cross-country skiing in June, 2016 and joined the coaching staff of the Canadian National Cross-Country Ski Team.

Change of nationality

Babikov lived in Canada in spring 2003 on a sponsorship, and got his Canadian

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

in December 2007. In 2008, he still had to ski for Russia, according to rules about the licenses from

International Ski Federation The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, also known as FIS (), is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. It was previously known as the International Ski Federation () until 26 May 2022 when the name was cha ...

. He officially became a Canadian ski competitor in January 2009.Article
from

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newspaper, 16 Jan 2009 Now he lives in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

World Championships

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

*1 victory – (1 ) *3 podiums – (3 )

Team podiums

* 1 victory – (1 ) * 1 podium – (1 )

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Babikov, Ivan 1980 births Living people People from Syktyvkar Canadian male cross-country skiers Canadian people of Russian descent Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Naturalized citizens of Canada Olympic cross-country skiers for Canada Olympic cross-country skiers for Russia Tour de Ski skiers Russian emigrants to Canada Skiing people from Alberta Skiers from the Komi Republic 21st-century Canadian sportsmen