Boris Shilkov - Short Biography

Short Biography

Competing for the Soviet Union, Boris Shilkov lived in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), where he worked as an engineer. He became Soviet Allround Champion in 1953 and made his international debut 3 weeks later at the World Allround Championships, where he won silver behind teammate and rival Oleg Goncharenko after having just recovered from an illness. The following year (1954), he became Soviet Allround Champion again (with Goncharenko, again, winning silver), European Allround Champion (with Goncharenko finishing 4th), and World Allround Champion (with Goncharenko taking the silver – a reversal of the roles of the year before).

In an international meet at Medeo, on 9 January 1955, Dmitry Sakunenko became the first person to skate the 5000 m below eight minutes, with 7:54.9. In a later pair Shilkov then improved this world record to 7:45.6. The following year, at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, he became Olympic Champion on the 5000 m, finishing only three seconds above his own world record, thus silencing the critics and proving that his world record had not been a fluke.

Despite his impressive 5000 m results, Shilkov had trouble with the 10000 m. This is illustrated by his performances at the World Allround Championships of 1953 (where he won silver), 1955 (where he won bronze), and 1957 (where he won silver): At each of these three World Championships he was in the lead after three distances, but lost too much on the final distance – the 10000 m – to win the title. His bronze medal at the World Championships of 1955 was 0.026 points behind the silver medallist (his eternal rival, Goncharenko) – a mere 0.52 seconds of difference on the 10000 m.

Shilkov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1957.