Igor Malkov


Igor Alekseyevich Malkov is a former speedskater.
Igor Malkov trained at VSS Trud in Sverdlovsk. Skating for the USSR, he became Olympic 10,000 m Champion at the 1984 Olympic Games in Sarajevo, only 0.05 seconds ahead of Tomas Gustafson, becoming the youngest male Olympic champion in the history of Olympic speed skating at an age of 19 years and 9 days.
Earlier at those Olympics, he had lost the 5,000 m race by only 0.02 seconds to Gustafson. Before that, during the same winter, Malkov had sent shock waves into the speed skating world when he skated 13:54.81 on the 10,000 m, thus becoming the first to break the 14 minutes barrier during the Christmas races at Medeu in December 1983. However, this time was never recognised as a world record by the International Skating Union. He set a new, official, world record later the same season, when he finished in a time of 14:21.51 at Medeo in March 1984, almost 30 seconds behind his personal best. His official world record would last for almost two years and his internationally unrecognised record was unbroken for four years. The following seasons were not so good for Malkov, and he quit top skating after the 1988 season, although he made one more appearance at the Soviet Allround Championships of 1990.
Malkov was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples in 1984.

Records

World records

Over the course of his career, Malkov skated one officially ISU-recognised world record, in addition to his more famous but not ISU-recognised 13:54.81:
EventTimeDateVenue
10,000 m14.21,5124 March 1984Medeo

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records

Malkov has an Adelskalender score of 160.405 points. In 1984, he had his highest ranking on the Adelskalender when he was third, allowing only his fellow countrymen Viktor Shasherin and Andrey Bobrov before him.