Nikita Kryukov


Nikita Valeryevich Kryukov 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, 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. 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. 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.
Kryukov announced his retirement from cross-country skiing on April 8, 2019.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation.

Olympic Games

Year Age 15 km
individual		 30 km
skiathlon 		50 km
mass start		 Sprint 4 × 10 km
relay 		Team
sprint
201024———Gold——
201428———13—Silver

World Championships

Year Age 15 km
individual		 30 km
skiathlon 		50 km
mass start		 Sprint 4 × 10 km
relay 		Team
sprint
200923—————4
201125—————Bronze
201327———Gold—Gold
201529———4—Silver
201731—————Gold

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlace
1 2009–10 28 November 2009 Rukatunturi, Finland1.4 km Sprint CWorld Cup3rd
2 2009–10 17 January 2010 Otepää, Estonia1.4 km Sprint CWorld Cup3rd
3 2009–10 22 January 2010 Rybinsk, Russia1.3 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd
4 2009–10 17 March 2010 Stockholm, Sweden1.0 km Sprint CStage World Cup1st
5 2010–11 23 January 2011 Otepää, Estonia1.4 km Sprint CWorld Cup3rd
6 2011–12 25 November 2011 Rukatunturi, Finland1.4 km Sprint CWorld Cup2nd
7 2011–12 17 March 2010 Oberstdorf, Germany1.2 km Sprint CStage World Cup1st
8 2011–12 4 March 2012 Lahti, Finland1.3 km Sprint CWorld Cup3rd
92012–1330 November 2012 Rukatunturi, Finland1.4 km Sprint CStage World Cup1st
102012–1315 December 2012 Canmore, Canada1.3 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd
112012–1313 March 2013 Drammen, Norway1.3 km Sprint CWorld Cup3rd
122012–1320 March 2013 Stockholm, Sweden1.1 km Sprint CStage World Cup3rd
132013–1421 December 2013 Asiago, Italy1.65 km Sprint CStage World Cup1st
142015–1611 February 2016 Stockholm, Sweden1.2 km Sprint CStage World Cup1st

Team podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlaceTeammate
1 2011–12 4 December 2011 Düsseldorf, Germany6 × 1.7 km Team Sprint FWorld Cup2ndPetukhov
2 2013–13 4 December 2011 Quebec City, Canada6 × 1.6 km Team Sprint FWorld Cup2ndPetukhov
3 2013–13 13 January 2013 Liberec, Czech Republic6 × 1.6 km Team Sprint FWorld Cup3rdPetukhov
42013–1414 January 2014 Nové Město, Czech Republic6 × 1.6 km Team Sprint CWorld Cup1stVylegzhanin
5 2016–17 5 January 2017 Pyeongchang, South Korea6 × 1.5 km Team Sprint FWorld Cup3rdMaltsev