Hurdler Sergei Šubenkov is currently the only “sprinting” star of the athletics world in Russia. He is double European Champion in the 110-metre hurdles (Helsinki 2012 and Zurich in 2014) and he won a Bronze medal at the World Championships in Moscow in 2013 in addition to winning European Indoor Gold in the 60-metre hurdles in Gothenburg last year.
“The hurdles situation in Russia is far better than that of the ‘pure’ sprint. In my discipline Russian athletes constantly perform at the Olympic Games and World Championships so it feels good to know I’m part of a tradition, “ says Šubenkov who at the Olympics in 2012 improved his personal best from 13.46 to 13.09 seconds, which is the current record of Russia.
“I studied Law for four years and it wasn’t just a formality as I attended classes every day, except when I was at the training camp ahead of big competitions. Since I graduated I’ve got a lot more time for training, and the coach has made a number of changes to my physical and technical preparation. So, effectively my results are constantly progressing” explained the double European Champion.
However, Šubenkov is also proof that the track is still lead by people, and not the results. If it were not the case, he would not have recently defended his title in Zürich next to, for example, Frenchman Pascal Martinot-Lagarde who currently has the second best result in the world – 12.95. In the European final, however, he was far behind Šubenkov.
Sergei Šubenkov was born in the Siberian city of Barnaul (4 October 1990), which is the same city where the famous long jumper, Tatiana Kotova was born. Interestingly, Sergei’s mother Natalya Šubenkova, was once a record holder for the Soviet Union in the Heptathlon.