Boris Shilkov

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Men’s speed skating
Olympic medal record
Gold	1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo	5000 m

Boris Arsenevich Shilkov (Russian: Борис Арсеньевич Шилков) (born 28 June 1927 in Arkhangelsk, Russia) is a former speed skater.

1 Short biography
2 Medals
3 World records
4 Personal records
5 References

[edit] Short biography

Competing for the Soviet Union, Boris Shilkov lived in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), where he worked as an engineer. He became Soviet Allround Champion in 1953 and made his international debut 3 weeks later at the World Allround Championships, where he won silver behind teammate and rival Oleg Goncharenko after having just recovered from an illness. The following year (1954), he became Soviet Allround Champion again (with Goncharenko, again, winning silver), European Allround Champion (with Goncharenko finishing 4th), and World Allround Champion (with Goncharenko taking the silver – a reversal of the roles of the year before).

In 1955, Shilkov broke the world record on the 5,000 m by 18 seconds and his time of 7:45.6 made him the first to skate this distance in less than 8 minutes. The next year, at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, he became Olympic Champion on the 5,000 m, finishing only 3 seconds above his own world record, thus silencing the critics and proving that his world record had not been a fluke.

Despite his impressive 5,000 m results, Shilkov had trouble with the 10,000 m. This is illustrated by his performances at the World Allround Championships of 1953 (where he won silver), 1955 (where he won bronze), and 1957 (where he won silver): At each of these three World Championships he was in the lead after three distances, but lost too much on the final distance – the 10,000 m – to win the title. His bronze medal at the World Championships of 1955 was 0.026 points behind the silver medallist (his eternal rival, Goncharenko) – a mere 0.52 seconds of difference on the 10,000 m.

Shilkov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1957.

[edit] Medals

An overview of medals won by Shilkov at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

Championships	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medal
Winter Olympics	1956 (5,000 m)
World Allround	1954	1953 1957	1955
European Allround	1954
Soviet Allround	1953 1954 1955

[edit] World records

Over the course of his career, Shilkov skated one world record:

Distance	Time	Date	Location
5,000 m	7:45.6	9 January 1955	Medeo

[edit] Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the last column (WR) lists the official world records on the dates that Shilkov skated his personal records.

Distance	Time	Date	Location	WR
500 m	41.9	30 January 1960	Medeo	40.2
1,500 m	2:10.4	20 January 1955	Medeo	2:09.8
3,000 m	4:55.7	26 December 1960	Kirov	4:40.2
5,000 m	7:45.6	9 January 1955	Medeo	8:03.7
10,000 m	16:50.2	20 January 1955	Medeo	16:32.6

Shilkov was number one on the Adelskalender – the all-time allround speed skating ranking – for a total of 1,518 days, divided over three periods between 1955 and 1960. He has an Adelskalender score of 182.436 points.