Lausanne, Switzerland

 #SpeedSkating

Pavel Kulizhnikov is the fastest man on skates. In 2015 he beat the 500m World Record in Salt Lake City (USA) in 33.98 seconds. To this date no one else managed to skate the 500m under 34 seconds. The 24-year-old Russian began Speed Skating when he was 12 years old and his talent for the sport was evident from the start. "I appeared to make progress way faster than most other kids", he says.

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) ESSC 2018©International Skating Union (ISU) 901819858

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) at the European Speed Skating Championships 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

Kulizhnkov was born in Vorkuta, which is in the Russian district of Siberia, a town which was infamously known as one of the forced labor camps of the Gulag Archipelago. " My father used to work in the mines in Vorkuta," Kulizhnikov says. "It was hard labor and the laborers did not earn much. Salary was actually paid in kind, with food. During a period of economic recession my parents decided to move to Kolomna in search of a better life."

The Kolomna move unintentionally facilitated young Pavel's Speed Skating career, because Kolomna was the Speed Skating center of the Moscow region.

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) WCSS GER 2018©International Skating Union (ISU) 907494600

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Erfurt (GER)2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

"As a kid I did athletics and BMX and it soon became apparent that I was good at sports. The first time I skated was on hockey skates, when I was twelve years old and my father took me to the ice rink in Kolomna."

It took a long summer of dry training before Kulizhnikov got his first taste of Speed Skating.

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) WCSS POL 2018©International Skating Union (ISU) 1069816134 (1) (1)

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Tomaszow Mazowiecki (POL)2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

"I actually started training at the Speed Skating club in summer camps off the ice. I really fell in love with the sport, when I finally got to skate on real clap skates with a real skinsuit. I particularly remember a race when I was thirteen years old. I had only skated for half a year and I set 49.55 in the 500m."

Although Kulizhnikov grew up to become the fastest sprinter in the world, but back in the days he also excelled in the longer distances. "As a kid I skated all distances. Pretty soon I was more than ten seconds faster than the others. I only found out that I was a sprinter later, around 2012, when I was 16-17 years old."

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) WCSS GER 2018©International Skating Union (ISU) 907494114

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Erfurt (GER) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

Coach Rostislav Podhayskiy was very important. As a club coach Podhayskiy also trained Alexey Yesin, who took bronze when Kulizhnikov won the 2015 ISU World Sprint Speed Skating Championships. When asked which coach had the biggest impact on him as a Speed Skater, Kulizhnikov doesn't leave any doubt.

"I have to mention Rostislav Podhayskiy first. He has been my most influential coach, in my youth but also in my later career. He was an old-fashioned coach, strict and tough but always fair. Of course other coaches have also been important to me, such as Kosta Poltavets and my current coach in the national selection Dmitry Dorofeev."

When he made his World Cup debut in Obihiro, Japan, in 2014, Kulizhnkov immediately won silver and gold in the two 500m races and gold in the 1000m. Then Russian national coach Kosta Poltavets wanted him to skate the 1500m too.

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) WCSS POL 2018©International Skating Union (ISU) 1071828400

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Tomaszow Mazowiecki (POL)2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

"He said that it would be good for my stamina in the 1000m. Eventually we found out that the 1500m was too far for me and I only concentrated on the sprint distances from then on."

As a junior, Kulizhnikov had already won numerous Junior World Cup medals. In 2012 he became Junior World Champion in the 1000m and bronze medalist in the 500m, but these results were scrapped from the books because of a doping violation, which caught him by surprise. Kuliznikov was suspended for two years and he vowed to come back stronger.

"This suspension worked as a motivation to prove myself to the outside world. I trained very hard. I worked out in the gym and I went skating on the ice rink even when nobody was there. During those two years, I realized that I could compete with the best sprinters of Russia and even with the best sprinters in the world once I was back."

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) WCSS NED 2018©International Skating Union (ISU) 1074105448

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Heerenveen (NED) 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

In March 2016 Kulizhnikov tested positive for meldonium. He was suspended provisionally, but that ban was lifted in April 2016 because the substance had only been on the list since January 2016 and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was uncertain about how long meldonium stays in the body.

"The ban was lifted, but it really killed my motivation to be a top skater," he says. When Russia was not invited to participate in the 2018 Olympic Games, Kulizhnikov was not able to compete in PyeongChang. "For a sportsman, that was devastating. It took away everything from me. I haven't watched a single minute of the Olympic Games on television."

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) WCSS NED 2018©International Skating Union (ISU) 1073637944

Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Heerenveen (NED) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

This season Kulizhnikov seems to be reborn. He already won six gold and two silver medals in the 2018/19 World Cup.

"I rediscovered my appetite for skating. I'm eager to improve my own times and the times of others, world records on low altitude tracks and high altitude tracks. I have found back the joy of skating, of pushing the boundaries for the coaches and for the crowd."

Although Kulizhnikov feels that he's on top of his game, he watches his rivals closely and tries to learn from them too.

"My most important rivals are the Japanese sprinters and Håvard Lorentzen (NOR). It depends on the track. On high altitude tracks the Canadians are very fast too. On low altitude tracks the Japanese skaters are very fast with their short strokes and fast openers. That's where I can find room for improvement. I look at the Japanese sprinters to try and improve my own openers in the 500m."