Ravil Iskhakovich Kashapov, мсмк (russian: link=no, Равиль Исхакович Кашапов; born 15 November 1956) is a Russian

ultramarathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

and former

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

runner. He represented the Soviet Union at the 1987 World Championships and

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

. He is currently an assistant professor at Kama State Institute of Physical Culture, as well as vice-president of the Tatarstan Athletics Federation. He was named a Master of Sport of the USSR, International Class.

Early life

Kashapov was born on November 15, 1956, in the town of Bolgar, Spassky District, Republic of Tatarstan in Soviet Russia. He graduated from

Kazan Federal University Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (russian: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет, tt-Cyrl, Казан (Идел буе) федераль университеты) is a public research uni ...

in the Volga region in 1979 with a degree in biochemistry. In his third year at the university, at 22 years old, he started training in athletics. His first coach was Hanif Mubarakzyanovich Murtazin, an Honoured Worker of Physical Culture of the Russian Federation, who convinced him to train as a runner after seeing him messing around with friends. In 1981, he began competing at professional athletics events. That same year, he also began his career as a sports medicine professor at various universities across the country.

Career

Kashapov began running marathons in 1986. In 1987, he won the gold medal at the Soviet Union Championships, thus qualifying for the 1987 World Championships in Rome, where he finished 8th, and the

in Seoul. He was the only Soviet man who competed in the Olympic marathon that year, finishing in 10th place. Also that year, Kashapov won gold at the

1988 European Marathon Cup The 1988 European Marathon Cup was the fourth edition of the quadrennial team marathon competition between European countries, which was held in Huy, Belgium on 30 April. Results Individual men Individual women References ;ResultsEurope ...

in Huy, Belgium He started the following year with a rare appearance at the 1989 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, finishing 74th in the long race (12 km). In April, he ran a personal best 2:11:07 time to finish fourth at the

1989 World Marathon Cup The 1989 World Marathon Cup was the third edition of the World Marathon Cup of athletics and were held in Milan, Italy. Results Individual men Individual women References ;ResultsIAAF World Cup Men Association of Road Racing Statisticia ...

in Milan. Six months later, he finished second in the Chicago Marathon, losing to Englishman

Paul Davies-Hale Paul Davies-Hale (born 21 June 1962) is an English former long-distance runner. He won the 2000 metres steeplechase at the 1981 European Junior Championships and went on to represent Great Britain at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the 1992 ...

by just under two minutes. For the second straight year, he finished second at the Fukuoka Marathon in December. In addition, he competed at two

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

events, the World Cup (4th in the marathon) and Golden Gala. 1990 was his last year competing at the world-class level, finishing 20th at the European Athletics Championships marathon event in Split. From 1991 to 1997, Kashapov ran in various city marathons around the world, as well as occasional shorter races, with moderate success. Running out of

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

, he finished 6th at the 1991 Houston Marathon and 3rd at the 1992

Pittsburgh Marathon The Pittsburgh Marathon (also known as Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual road marathon usually held on the first Sunday in May in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States, first held in 1 ...

. In the late 1990s, he started running

s, races ranging from 50 to 100 kilometres. His greatest success came in 1998, when he won first place at the Russian 100 km Championships in Moscow, 3rd in the IAU World 100 km Championships in Kochi,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and 5th in the annual Comrades Marathon (87 km). He was the over 45 age category winner in each one.

Competition record

Other events

Personal bests

Outdoor *

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

– 13:37.26 ( Pescara, 1989) *

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

– 27:56.75 ( Leningrad, 1988) *10 km road – 31:19 ( Orlando, 1991) *

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

– 2:11:07 ( Milan, 1989) *100 km road – 6:33:05 ( Winschoten, 1999)

Personal

He has two sons, Renat and Ruslan, who both run competitively as well.