Nikita Kryukov

Nikita Kryukov
Nikita Kryukov at the 2009 World Championships in Liberec
Country Russia
Full nameNikita Valeryevich Kryukov
Born (1985-05-30) 30 May 1985
Dzerzhinsky, Moscow Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Ski clubSdusor 81
World Cup career
Seasons12 – (20072018)
Indiv. starts92
Indiv. podiums14
Indiv. wins5
Team starts14
Team podiums5
Team wins1
Overall titles0 – (21st in 2010)
Discipline titles0
Medal record
Men's cross-country skiing
Representing  Russia
International nordic ski competitions
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 1 1 0
World Championships 3 1 1
Total 4 2 1
Olympic Games
2010 Vancouver Individual sprint
2014 Sochi Team sprint
World Championships
2013 Val di Fiemme Individual sprint
2013 Val di Fiemme Team sprint
2017 Lahti Team sprint
2015 Falun Team sprint
2011 Oslo Team sprint

Nikita Valeryevich Kryukov (Russian: Никита Валерьевич Крюков; born 30 May 1985) is a Russian former cross-country skier who competed internationally between 2006 and 2018. He was a sprint specialist who won an Olympic gold medal, three World Championship gold medals, six World cup gold medals (three stage races, three individual World Cups), all in the sprint events. He was arguably the fastest skier ever when it came to double-poling on the flat in sprints. He generally favoured classic skiing and classic sprints over freestyle, but as he showed in winning the team sprint in the 2013 World Championship, in Val di Fiemme, he was also very strong in the freestyle sprint.

Career

The highlights of his career were at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics where he beat his teammate from behind with a late closing sprint, in a photo finish that took minutes to determine. At the 2013 World Championships, where he won gold medals in both the individual classic sprint and the team freestyle sprint. A late fall by another team that impeded his closing 200 metres likely cost him a second Olympic Gold in the team sprint in Sochi where he took silver.

In November 2017, Maxim Vylegzhanin was disqualified for doping offenses, as a result Kryukov lost its silver medal in the Team sprint awarded at the 2014 Winter Olympics.[1] On 22 December 2017 Kriukov as well was found to have committed violations against the anti-doping rule at the 2014 Olympics. He was ordered to return his Olympic silver medal and barred from all future Olympic games.[2] In January 2018, he successfully appealed against the lifetime ban as well as decision to strip his medal from Sochi Olympics at the court of arbitration for sport.[3]

Kryukov announced his retirement from cross-country skiing on 8 April 2019.[4]

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).[5]

Olympic Games

  • 2 medals – (1 gold, 1 silver)
 Year   Age   15 km 
 individual 
 30 km 
 skiathlon 
 50 km 
 mass start 
 Sprint   4 × 10 km 
 relay 
 Team 
 sprint 
2010 24 Gold
2014 28 13 Silver

World Championships

  • 5 medals – (3 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
 Year   Age   15 km 
 individual 
 30 km 
 skiathlon 
 50 km 
 mass start 
 Sprint   4 × 10 km 
 relay 
 Team 
 sprint 
2009 23 4
2011 25 Bronze
2013 27 Gold Gold
2015 29 4 Silver
2017 31 Gold

World Cup

Season standings

 Season   Age  Discipline standings Ski Tour standings
Overall Distance Sprint Nordic
Opening
Tour de
Ski
World Cup
Final
Ski Tour
Canada
2007 21 132 NC 64
2008 22 56 22
2009 23 35 NC 10 68
2010 24 21 6 DNF
2011 25 55 19 DNF
2012 26 34 70 10 DNF DNF DNF
2013 27 25 DNF DNF
2014 28 25 5 DNF DNF
2015 29 42 12
2016 30 49 NC 19 DNF
2017 31 83 36
2018 32 NC NC

Individual podiums

  • 5 victories – (1 WC, 4 SWC)
  • 14 podiums – (8 WC, 6 SWC)
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place
1  2009–10  28 November 2009 Rukatunturi, Finland 1.4 km Sprint C World Cup 3rd
2 17 January 2010 Otepää, Estonia 1.4 km Sprint C World Cup 3rd
3 22 January 2010 Rybinsk, Russia 1.3 km Sprint F World Cup 3rd
4 17 March 2010 Stockholm, Sweden 1.0 km Sprint C Stage World Cup 1st
5  2010–11  23 January 2011 Otepää, Estonia 1.4 km Sprint C World Cup 3rd
6  2011–12  25 November 2011 Rukatunturi, Finland 1.4 km Sprint C World Cup 2nd
7 31 December 2011 Oberstdorf, Germany 1.2 km Sprint C Stage World Cup 1st
8 4 March 2012 Lahti, Finland 1.3 km Sprint C World Cup 3rd
9 2012–13 30 November 2012 Rukatunturi, Finland 1.4 km Sprint C Stage World Cup 1st
10 15 December 2012 Canmore, Canada 1.3 km Sprint F World Cup 3rd
11 13 March 2013 Drammen, Norway 1.3 km Sprint C World Cup 3rd
12 20 March 2013 Stockholm, Sweden 1.1 km Sprint C Stage World Cup 3rd
13 2013–14 21 December 2013 Asiago, Italy 1.65 km Sprint C Stage World Cup 1st
14 2015–16 11 February 2016 Stockholm, Sweden 1.2 km Sprint C Stage World Cup 1st

Team podiums

  • 1 victory – (1 TS)
  • 5 podiums – (5 TS)
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place Teammate
1  2011–12  4 December 2011 Düsseldorf, Germany 6 × 1.7 km Team Sprint F World Cup 2nd Petukhov
2  2013–13  4 December 2011 Quebec City, Canada 6 × 1.6 km Team Sprint F World Cup 2nd Petukhov
3 13 January 2013 Liberec, Czech Republic 6 × 1.6 km Team Sprint F World Cup 3rd Petukhov
4 2013–14 14 January 2014 Nové Město, Czech Republic 6 × 1.6 km Team Sprint C World Cup 1st Vylegzhanin
5  2016–17  5 January 2017 Pyeongchang, South Korea 6 × 1.5 km Team Sprint F World Cup 3rd Maltsev

References

  1. ^ IOC sanctions four Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings
  2. ^ "Russian doping: IOC bans 11 Winter Olympic athletes". BBC Sport. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  3. ^ "THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT (CAS) DELIVERS ITS DECISIONS IN THE MATTER OF 39 RUSSIAN ATHLETES V/ THE IOC:28 APPEALS UPHELD, 11 PARTIALLY UPHELD" (PDF). THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT. 2018-02-01. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  4. ^ "Олимпийский чемпион по лыжным гонкам Крюков объявил о завершении карьеры" (in Russian). TASS. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  5. ^ "Athlete : KRIUKOV Nikita". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 15 March 2018.