Yuri Matveyevich Mikhaylov (russian: Ю́рий Матве́евич Миха́йлов) (born 25 July 1930 in
Ulitino,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
– died 15 July 2008
Tver
Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population:
Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russian ...
, Russia
) was a
speed skater
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 skating. ...
who competed for the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
Born in the village of Ulitino in
Staritsky District
Staritsky District (russian: Ста́рицкий райо́н) is an administrative and municipalLaw #4-ZO district (raion), one of the thirty-six in Tver Oblast, Russia. It is located in the central and southern parts of the oblast and border ...
of
Tver Oblast
Tver Oblast (russian: Тверска́я о́бласть, ''Tverskaya oblast'', ), from 1935 to 1990 known as Kalinin Oblast (), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. It was named after Mikhai ...
, Yuri Mikhaylov took up
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
when he was young and in 1949, he became champion of
Kalininsky District of Tver Oblast. At the country's Junior Championships, he then won a bronze medal and it seemed that Mikhaylov had a nice future in boxing ahead of him. Besides liking boxing in itself, Mikhaylov also very much liked the exercises his trainer made him do, which included elements of athletics, bicycle racing, gymnastics, and more. But then his trainer left and Mikhaylov's new trainer forced him to do only boxing exercises. This made Mikhaylov lose interest in boxing.
Mikhaylov then decided to try skating. Originally, he skated only to keep occupied doing something that would exercise his muscles, but he soon fell in love with skating and became obsessed, dreaming about skating and unable to refrain from skating even a single day. But in 1951, he had to join the army. In the army, he was bored and he missed skating, drawing pictures of skates in letters he wrote. After having been demobilised, Mikhaylov, even more obsessed with skating than before, trained furiously and made up for all the skating he had missed while in the army.
He soon started to win medals at regional championships and he made his debut at the Soviet Allround Championships in 1954, skating only his favourite distance (the 1500 m) in which he finished 4th. Early 1955, during races on the
Medeo
The Medeu ( kk, Медеу, ''Medeu''), is an outdoor speed skating and bandy rink. It is located in a mountain valley ( Medeu Valley, or the valley of Malaya Almatinka River) on the south-eastern outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan. Medeu sits ...
rink of
Alma-Ata
Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of t ...
, he finished 2nd on the 1500 m behind
Yevgeny Grishin who won the 1500 m in a new world-record time. At the Soviet Allround Championships that year, Mikhaylov finished 6th, while finishing second on the 1500 m behind
Boris Shilkov
Boris Arsenyevich Shilkov (russian: Борис Арсеньевич Шилков; 28 June 1927 – 29 June 2015) was a speed skater.
Skating career
Competing for the Soviet Union, Shilkov lived in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), where ...
.
Mikhaylov's best year came in 1956. During races in
Davos
, neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch
, twintowns =
}
Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...
, he broke Grishin's 1500 m world record. At the
1956 Winter Olympics
The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games ( it, VII Giochi Olimpici invernali) and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( lld, Anpezo 1956 or ), was a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from ...
in
Cortina d'Ampezzo
Cortina d'Ampezzo (; lld, Anpezo, ; historical de-AT, Hayden) is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the Boite river, in an alp ...
, he participated in the 500 m, but he fell and did not finish. Two days later was the day of his favourite distance, the 1500 m and – ten days after Mikhaylov had become the 1500 m world record holder – he watched Grishin finish his 1500 m in a new world-record time of 2:08.6. In the next pair, Mikhaylov equalled Grishin's time and they shared Olympic gold. Later that year, he won silver at the Soviet Allround Championships, finishing first on the 1500 m. Although Mikhaylov remained active as a skater until 1961, he won no more major medals.
World records
Over the course of his career, Mikhaylov skated two
world records
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 organization ...
:
Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com[
]
References
Yuri Mikhaylov at SpeedSkatingStats.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikhaylov, Yuri
1930 births
2008 deaths
People from Staritsky District
Russian male speed skaters
Soviet male speed skaters
Olympic speed skaters for the Soviet Union
Speed skaters at the 1956 Winter Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union
Olympic medalists in speed skating
World record setters in speed skating
Medalists at the 1956 Winter Olympics
Sportspeople from Tver Oblast