Nikita Valerievich Kryukov is a famous Russian skier who has repeatedly won awards, including the highest awards, at competitions among athletes from all over the world. Despite his rather young age, Nikita has a rather interesting biography; in addition to sports, he is also involved in politics and is a true patriot of his country.
Childhood and youth.
Nikita was born in the city of Dzerzhinsky (Moscow region) on May 30, 1985. As a child, he was not much different from his peers. Everything changed when Nikita got into the school ski section under the leadership of Yuri Mikhailovich Kaminsky. This coach raised real professionals, 4 of his students made it to the Russian national team. He still accompanies Nikita at all competitions. Already at the age of 14, Nikita entered the Olympic reserve school. His parents supported their son’s sporting endeavors, since his mother Svetlana Kryukova herself was a former athlete and the owner of the first adult category in athletics. After school, Nikita graduated from the University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow with the rank of senior police lieutenant, Faculty of Pedagogy, Moscow State Technical University. Sholokhov.
Sports career.
The professional career of skier Nikita Kryukov began in 2006 at the World Cup, since then he has taken part in more than 30 World Cup stages. He has repeatedly become a prize-winner at World Cup stages and won the Russian Championship, including as part of the relay. He achieved the greatest success in such a discipline as sprint. In 2007 he won the Russian roller ski championship. He was the champion of Russia in 2008 and 2011 in the sprint, and the winner of the sprint relay in 2009. Real success came to the athlete in 2010 after a victorious performance at the Olympic Vancouver, where he won gold in the last meters of the distance from his compatriot Alexander Panzhinsky, all other rivals were left far behind. Moreover, the winner could only be determined by a photo finish, which showed that Kryukov was ahead of Panzhinsky by half a shoe. A year later, at the World Championships, Nikita became a bronze medalist in the team sprint.
At the Sochi Olympics in 2014, Nikita was less fortunate. In the personal sprint races, he stumbled before the finish line and lost speed, as a result he dropped out of the competition at the ¼ final stage. In the team sprint, paired with Maxim Vylegzhanin, he could count on the highest place, but another fall, this time of a German athlete at the finish line, whom he had to go around, allowed him to take only a silver medal.
In 2013, Nikita Kryukov became a two-time world champion, winning both the individual and team sprint.
To date, Nikita Kryukov is the only man in the history of Soviet and Russian skiing who has won more than two gold medals at the World Championships.
Kryukov’s coaches at various times, in addition to Yuri Kaminsky Kryukov, who is a senior coach in sprint disciplines, were Rif Zinnurov and Mikhail Devyatyarov.
In his sports career he is always guided by the motto “The impossible is possible.”
Interesting fact: Nikita, being a true patriot of Russia, in 2017 was one of the first to refuse to take part in the 2018 Olympics under a neutral flag. Although at that time he was one of the main contenders for gold medals.
Disqualification.
At the end of 2017, Nikita Kryukov became involved in a high-profile doping scandal. For violating anti-doping rules, the IOC deprived him and some other Russian athletes of the medals won in Sochi 2014 with a lifelong ban from participation in subsequent Olympics. In February 2018, the athlete was acquitted by the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the silver medal and the athlete’s good name were restored.
Nikita missed last season due to injury and temporary suspension after a doping scandal. He was not included in the Russian ski team for the 2018/2019 season. But the decision to end the athlete’s career has not yet been made.
Personal life.
Nikita does not like publicity, and has repeatedly noted that he never aspired to fame. And good performances and victories are just a way to earn money for an apartment and a car. Hard work led him to fulfill these dreams. After winning the Olympics, Dmitry Medvedev handed him the keys to a brand new Audi Q7. A few years later, through the efforts of the city administration, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Phobos, Nikita received an apartment and even a garage with two spaces.
Throughout his entire sports career, Nikita Kryukov won two state awards. In March 2010, he received the title of Honored Master of Sports of the Russian Federation. And then for his high contribution to the development of sports and his own sporting achievements at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, he was awarded the Order of Friendship.
Nikita is a deeply religious person. It is the Orthodox faith, as the athlete notes, that has always been a protection and support in all his endeavors.
In addition to sporting achievements, Nikita pays sufficient attention to his hobbies. He is an avid car enthusiast and traveler. Likes to ride a bike while listening to energetic music tracks, such as the music of the band Scooter. In addition, Nikita is also involved in social activities as part of the A Just Russia party and was the “Ambassador of Sochi 2014”. Today Nikita, outside of competitions, continues to serve in the police, speaking for the Dynamo physical education society. After winning the Vancouver Olympics, he was awarded the rank of police captain. Nikita does not exclude the possibility that after completing his sports career he will go to catch criminals.
Nikita has never advertised his personal life, and he rarely gives interviews. The only known fact is that he got married in February 2014. His wife's name is Julia. They met quite by chance at the airport, while both were waiting for their flights, met for two years and started a family, in the same year their daughter Veronica was born. Family photos can be found on Nikita’s Instagram account.
Today Nikita Kryukov, like Alexander Legkov, is one of the most titled and famous skiers in Russia. And if Legkov showed his strength at long marathon distances, then Nikita Kryukov is the king of sprints.
Nikita Kryukov's childhood
Nikita Kryukov grew up as an ordinary boy and did not stand out among his peers. At the age of seven, as soon as he crossed the threshold of school, he began to actively engage in sports in the city ski section. Yuri Mikhailovich Kaminsky, who taught physical education at that time at Dzerzhinsk secondary school No. 4, where Nikita studied, helped him in this. For the sake of the experiment, the teacher increased the number of classes to five hours a week and was right. Subsequently, four people from Nikitin's class, coached by Kaminsky, became members of the Russian national team.At the age of fourteen, Nikita Kryukov continued his sports education at the specialized children's and youth school of the Olympic reserve "Babushkino". Here the guys called him the Buchenwald Strongman - for his thinness and thin legs, coupled with his tall stature.
Nikita's mother, Svetlana Fridrikhovna Kryukova, is familiar with big-time sports firsthand - she has the first adult category in athletics. That is why she did not interfere with her son’s choice to develop a sports career.
Education of Nikita Kryukov
Nikita Kryukov received his secondary education at Dzerzhinsk School No. 4. Then he studied at the Babushkino Children's Sports School. He successfully graduated from the Shchukin Olympic Reserve School. Today, the famous skier is studying at the Moscow State University for the Humanities named after V.A. Sholokhov, receiving the profession of a teacher.Sports career and awards of skier Nikita Kryukov
Nikita made his debut at the World Cup in November 2006 in the Finnish city of Kuusamo.Repeatedly - in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 - he became the champion of Russia in cross-country skiing in the sprint relay.
Brilliant finish by Nikita Kryukov
Three times winner of the Krasnogradskaya Ski Track tournaments, once of which he took first place (in 2009). He is a multiple bronze medalist at the World Cup stages: in 2009 - in Kuusamo, in 2010. – in the Estonian cities of Otepää and Rybinsk, in 2011. – in Otepää, in 2012. – in the city of Lahti, in 2012. - in Canmore, in 2013. – in Drammen and Stockholm. In March 2011, he also won a bronze medal at the World Championships in the team sprint in the city of Holmenkollen.
In addition, Nikita Kryukov took fourth place in the city of Liberec (Czech Republic) in the team sprint held in 2009, and in the winter of 2010 at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver (Canada) he won the first gold medal of the Olympic Games. It is interesting that, approaching the finish line, Nikita had to fight for victory with another athlete from Russia - Alexander Panzhinsky, while Petter Northug and Ola Vigen Hattestad from Norway were left far behind. And this was surprising, since the strongest rivals for Kryukov always remained skiers from Norway and Sweden, and in particular Emil Jonson and Ola Vigen Hattestad, who took the first two places in the previous tournament.
Interview with Nikita Kryukov
Since 2010, Kryukov has been an Honored Master of Sports of Russia and an Olympic champion. In the same year he received the “Order of Friendship” for his great contribution to the development of physical education and sports and high sporting achievements.
Nikita is actively involved in social activities - he is a member of the A Just Russia party and appears as an ambassador for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. He serves in the police and plays for the all-Union physical culture and sports society "Dynamo". He is a two-time world champion in 2013 in Val di Fiemme.
Throughout his entire sports career, Kryukov is accompanied by his beloved coach Yuri Mikhailovich Kaminsky, but according to a skier from the Moscow region, he is trained by another person - Rif Agizovich Zinurov. In any case, looking at the success of an athlete, you involuntarily understand that the coaching work was not in vain.
Personal life of Nikita Kryukov
Nikita Kryukov is a deeply religious person. The Orthodox faith accompanies him everywhere and is a kind of protection in all his endeavors. 
The athlete is a patriot and madly loves his hometown. He doesn’t need loud fame - the guy doesn’t like publicity. More recently, the main goal of a skier was to acquire personal housing and a car, the lack of which prevented him from fully devoting himself to training.
Nikita didn’t have a lot of money, so he had to be content with little, purchasing a simple car. But having distinguished himself at the Olympics in Vancouver, the athlete’s dream came true - as a gold medalist, in addition to the order and medal, he was awarded the keys to an Audi Q7. Nikita was awarded by the President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev (2010). To present Kryukov with an apartment, the city administration, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Phobos chipped in. A couple of months later, another surprise awaited him - a new garage with two spaces in the basement of the very house where he planned to move. Nikita is hardworking, purposeful and persistent. Protecting the sporting interests of the country, he selflessly serves the Motherland. In his free time, he likes to ride a bike, listen to energetic music (his favorite artist is Scooter) and spend time with nice people.
Nikita Kryukov is not yet planning to marry, but he does not deny the presence of his beloved girl. The skier's sports motto is the phrase “The impossible is possible.”
Nikita Kryukov was born on May 30, 1985 in the town of Dzerzhinsky near Moscow. He came to skiing under the influence of physical education teacher Yuri Kaminsky, who led the cross-country skiing section. This cooperation is currently ongoing. Yuri Kaminsky is the senior coach of the sprint team of the Russian Federation cross-country skiing team, where Nikita trains.
Nikita Kryukov specializes in sprint disciplines. The young athlete’s debut on the international stage took place in 2006, when he took part in the World Cup in Kuusamo, Finland. Three years later, it was in the same place that Kryukov was lucky enough to win his first podium - third place. From that moment on, he repeatedly left the stages of the world cup with medals.
In February 2010, he became a real national hero: at the Olympic Games in Vancouver, Kryukov won the first gold medal for the Russian team. According to Nikita, he hardly realized his victory: “...stardom is unlikely to threaten me. I'm a modest person. Although... Now I’m just glad that I was able to bring joy to all of Russia, to everyone who was rooting for me!”
For such a high result, the skier was awarded the Order of Friendship.
In 2011, at the World Championships in Holmenkollen, Nikita Kryukov took bronze. In 2013, the Vancouver hero returned from the world championship in Val di Fiemme, Italy, with two victories - in the individual and team sprint.
In 2014, at the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, he won a silver award in the team sprint paired with Maxim Vylegzhanin.
Finish in Vancouver.
Finish in Val di Fiemme - World Championship.
At a reception with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin after the Olympic Games in Sochi.
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He grew up as an ordinary boy and did not stand out among his peers. At the age of seven, as soon as he crossed the threshold of school, he began to actively engage in sports in the city ski section. Yuri Mikhailovich Kaminsky, who taught physical education at that time at Dzerzhinsk secondary school No. 4, where Nikita studied, helped him in this. For the sake of the experiment, the teacher increased the number of classes to five hours a week and was right. Subsequently, four people from Nikitin's class, coached by Kaminsky, became members of the Russian national team.
Skier Nikita Kryukov - multiple Olympic champion
At the age of fourteen, Nikita Kryukov continued his sports education at the specialized children's and youth school of the Olympic reserve "Babushkino". Here the guys called him the Buchenwald Strongman - for his thinness and thin legs, coupled with his tall stature.
Nikita's mother, Svetlana Fridrikhovna Kryukova, is familiar with big-time sports firsthand - she has the first adult category in athletics. That is why she did not interfere with her son’s choice to develop a sports career.
Education of Nikita Kryukov
Nikita Kryukov received his secondary education at Dzerzhinsk School No. 4. Then he studied at the Babushkino Children's Sports School. He successfully graduated from the Shchukin Olympic Reserve School. Today, the famous skier is studying at the Moscow State University for the Humanities named after V.A. Sholokhov, receiving the profession of a teacher.Sports career and awards of skier Nikita Kryukov
Nikita made his debut at the World Cup in November 2006 in the Finnish city of Kuusamo.Repeatedly - in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 - he became the champion of Russia in cross-country skiing in the sprint relay.
Brilliant finish by Nikita Kryukov Three times winner of the Krasnogradskaya Ski Track tournaments, once of which he took first place (in 2009). He is a multiple bronze medalist at the World Cup stages: in 2009 - in Kuusamo, in 2010. – in the Estonian cities of Otepää and Rybinsk, in 2011. – in Otepää, in 2012. – in the city of Lahti, in 2012. - in Canmore, in 2013. – in Drammen and Stockholm. In March 2011, he also won a bronze medal at the World Championships in the team sprint in the city of Holmenkollen.
In addition, Nikita Kryukov took fourth place in the city of Liberec (Czech Republic) in the team sprint held in 2009, and in the winter of 2010 at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver (Canada) he won the first gold medal of the Olympic Games. It is interesting that, approaching the finish line, Nikita had to fight for victory with another athlete from Russia - Alexander Panzhinsky, while Petter Northug and Ola Vigen Hattestad from Norway were left far behind. And this was surprising, since the strongest rivals for Kryukov always remained skiers from Norway and Sweden, and in particular Emil Jonson and Ola Vigen Hattestad, who took the first two places in the previous tournament.
Interview with Nikita Kryukov Since 2010, Kryukov has been an Honored Master of Sports of Russia and an Olympic champion. In the same year he received the “Order of Friendship” for his great contribution to the development of physical education and sports and high sporting achievements.
Nikita is actively involved in social activities - he is a member of the A Just Russia party and appears as an ambassador for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. He serves in the police and plays for the all-Union physical culture and sports society "Dynamo". He is a two-time world champion in 2013 in Val di Fiemme.
Throughout his entire sports career, Kryukov is accompanied by his beloved coach Yuri Mikhailovich Kaminsky, but according to a skier from the Moscow region, he is trained by another person - Rif Agizovich Zinurov. In any case, looking at the success of an athlete, you involuntarily understand that the coaching work was not in vain.
Personal life of Nikita Kryukov
Nikita Kryukov is a deeply religious person. The Orthodox faith accompanies him everywhere and is a kind of protection in all his endeavors.
The athlete is a patriot and madly loves his hometown. He doesn’t need loud fame - the guy doesn’t like publicity. More recently, the main goal of a skier was to acquire personal housing and a car, the lack of which prevented him from fully devoting himself to training.
Nikita didn’t have a lot of money, so he had to be content with little, purchasing a simple car. But having distinguished himself at the Olympics in Vancouver, the athlete’s dream came true - as a gold medalist, in addition to the order and medal, he was awarded the keys to an Audi Q7. Nikita was awarded by the President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev (2010). To present Kryukov with an apartment, the city administration, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Phobos chipped in. A couple of months later, another surprise awaited him - a new garage with two spaces in the basement of the very house where he planned to move. Nikita is hardworking, purposeful and persistent. Protecting the sporting interests of the country, he selflessly serves the Motherland. In his free time, he likes to ride a bike, listen to energetic music (his favorite artist is Scooter) and spend time with nice people.
Nikita Kryukov is not yet planning to marry, but he does not deny the presence of his beloved girl. The skier's sports motto is the phrase “The impossible is possible.”
Nikita Valerievich Kryukov is a professional skier who has won victories at prestigious international competitions. In addition to his sports career, where he made a huge contribution to his progress, politics is also present in his life: he is a member of the A Just Russia party and was an ambassador to the Olympics in Sochi.
The beginning of the sports journey
Nikita Valerievich Kryukov was born on May 30, 1985 in the city of Dzerzhinsky. As a child, this boy was an ordinary child who loved active games. After Nikita went to school, he began to study in the ski section. His coach was Yuri Mikhailovich Kaminsky. This teacher knew how to work with children. He conscientiously worked with everyone, trying to raise professional athletes. As a result, 4 of his students eventually made it into the national team. At the age of 14, Nikita moved to the Olympic reserve school. The mother supported her son in every possible way. She knows very well what sports is, as she has been involved in athletics for a long time.
Professional career
Nikita Valerievich Kryukov began his performance at the World Cup stages in 2006. He became the bronze medalist of this tournament more than once. Kryukov was the champion of Russia in the ski relay 4 times. In 2010, success came to Nikita after a successful performance at the Olympic Games in Vancouver. At the finish line, Kryukov fought for the gold medal with an athlete from the Russian team Panzhinsky. As a result, the skier from Dzerzhinsky turned out to be stronger and won gold. The main rivals from Norway were behind and did not participate in the finishing race. Immediately after the historic victory, Nikita Valerievich Kryukov received the Order of Friendship. At the 2011 World Championships, this skier won a bronze medal in the team sprint. His first coach Kaminsky accompanies the eminent athlete at all competitions. In addition to him, Kryukov is also trained by Rif Zinurov.
Personal life of an athlete
Nikita Valerievich Kryukov is a believing athlete. He believes that God is always with him in new endeavors. This skier is a patriot of his country. Outside of sports, he takes part in various activities. Kryukov does not like publicity and has never strived for fame. He just wanted to earn money for a car and an apartment through his performances. Thanks to his work, he achieved everything he wanted. After winning gold at the Olympic Games, he was given a prestigious Audi Q7 car. The keys were handed over to this famous skier by the country's President Dmitry Medvedev. Over time, thanks to the city administration, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Phobos, Kryukov received an apartment. And a couple of months later, the champion was given a garage with two spaces. The athlete rarely gives interviews and does not advertise his personal life. It is only known that the athlete is not married at the moment. So numerous fans have a chance to become his other half.
Nikita Valerievich Kryukov, whose biography was very successful, could never have become a professional skier if not for his first coach Kaminsky. It was he who instilled in Kryukov a love of skiing and hard work. Throughout his career, he is always by Nikita’s side and supports him in every possible way in difficult moments.