Ivan Babikov

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Ivan Babikov of Russia and Tobias Angerer of Germany in action during the men's 50 km freestyle final.

Ivan Babikov (born July 04, 1980) is a Russian cross country skier who has been competing since 2002. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, he earned his best finish of 13th in the 15 km + 15 km double pursuit.

Babikov's best finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was 48th in the 50 km event at Sapporo in 2007. His best World Cup finish was fourth in a 15 km event in Canada in 2005.

Babikov has 33 individual career victories up to 50 km at lesser events from 2003 to 2006

Ivan immigrated to Canada with his mother in the hopes of pursuing his ski career with the Canadian Program and represent Canada at the Olympic Winter Games. He joined his sister in Toronto (who was already a Canadian citizen since 2001) upon his arrival in the spring, and moved to Canmore in fall, joining X-C.com for the 2003-04 season.

Ivan went on to dominate the Continental Cup circuits (Canada Cup/SuperTour) for the next two seasons with joint support from X-C.com and US Factory Team, until his nomination to the 2010 National Ski Team Program in the week leading up to the 2005 FIS World Cup in Canmore - He finished an impressive 4th overall in the 15km Skate Event, racing in a Canadian National Ski Team uniform but under a Russian FIS license – all part of a joint Canada/Russia agreement! He went on to represent Russia at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, finishing 13th in the 30km Pursuit Event and capping a great 2005/06 winter.

In the summer of 2006, an unsuccessful bid to fast-track his citizenship resulted in the termination of Ivan’s funding from both Cross-Country Canada and Own the Podium. With his wife and son to support, he had little options to generate income other than to return to compete for Russia for the 2006-07 season. But his reintegration into the Russian Program proved more difficult than planned, and Ivan struggle through the winter with mediocre results.

Spring 2007 saw Ivan’s mother become a Canadian citizen, motivating the Babikov family to make the conscious commitment to Canada “no matter what the consequences”. After relocating to Canmore, AB, Ivan rejoined Team X-C.com in early summer, allowing him to focus on his own training program and needs. He started the season with renewed energy, winning every single distance race he started in North America! He recently got his Canadian citizenship.