Nikolay Vasilyevich Strunnikov () (16 December 1886 – 12 January 1940
) was a Russian World Champion in
speed skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marathon speed skat ...
. In addition, he was also successful as a
cyclist
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
.
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Nikolay Strunnikov was born in
Sknyatino and quickly became a very enthusiastic and highly disciplined athlete, training daily. During the summer, he trained on bicycles, and during the winter, he trained in speed skating and played
bandy
Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.
The playin ...
. After returning from work, he would always be on the ice at the same time every day to skate his rounds, regardless of weather conditions. Even at times, the temperature was −40 °C (equal to −40 °F), he would still go through his entire training program. His enthusiasm and dedication paid off and in 1906, he won silver at the Russian National Allround Championships.
He quickly improved even further and became the Russian Allround Champion in 1908, 1909, and 1910. In 1909, he also won the National Championships in cycling. Still relatively unknown to the rest of the world, Strunnikov made his international debut at the
European Allround Championships in 1910 and promptly won gold. Two weeks later, he participated in the
1910 World Allround Championships of
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
. After three distances, the reigning World Champion and holder of multiple world records,
Norwegian skating legend
Oscar Mathisen
Oscar Wilhelm Mathisen (4 October 1888 – 10 April 1954) was a Norway, Norwegian speed skating, speed skater and celebrity, almost rivalling Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen as symbols for a young nation (Norway became independent in 1905). ...
, had a relatively comfortable lead, but Strunnikov finished well ahead of the entire field on the final distance and became World Champion in the process; something which commanded tremendous respect from Mathisen.
In 1911, Strunnikov traveled to Norway in preparation for the European Championships there. During his preparations, he set a new world record on the 5,000 m, beating
Jaap Eden's world record that had stood for 17 years. (His world record would not be recognized by the
International Skating Union
The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international sport governing body, governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded ...
until 1967, though.) Three weeks later, he became European Champion for the second time, and he did so by winning all four distances during those championships. One week after that, he became World Champion for the second time, while once more winning all four distances. In fact, at every international tournament in which Strunnikov participated in 1911, he was the winner on every distance he skated – a total of twelve distance wins that year.
Much was expected from Strunnikov in 1912, but a disagreement with the sports association to which he belonged resulted in his retirement from speed skating. He remained active in sports, though, cycling for many years afterward. In the 1920s he also became a coach and he would remain a coach until he died in 1940 in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
.
Medals
An overview of medals won by Strunnikov at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:
World records
Over the course of his career, Strunnikov skated one
world record
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...
:
Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com[
]
Personal records
To put these personal records in perspective, the ''WR'' column lists the official world records on the dates that Strunnikov skated his records.
Strunnikov has an
Adelskalender score of 198.743 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was second place.
References
External records
Nikolay Strunnikov at SpeedSkatingStats.comNikolay Strunnikov ''Deutsche Eisschnelllauf Gemeinschaft e.V.'' (German Skating Association).
Short biography of Nikolay Strunnikov(in Russian)
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120205184935/http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-181536-198754-94643-0-file,00.pdf Historical World Records ''International Skating Union''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strunnikov, Nikolay
1886 births
1940 deaths
Russian male speed skaters
World record setters in speed skating
World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists