Boris Stenin

Boris Stenin

Stenin at the 1960 World Cup in Davos
Personal information
Born	17 January 1935
Died	18 January 2001
Medal record Men's Speed Skating Representing  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1960 Squaw Valley 1,500 m World Championships 1960 Davos Allround European Championships 1960 Oslo Allround 1962 Oslo Allround

Boris Andrianovich Stenin (Russian: Борис Андрианович Стенин) (17 January 1935 – 18 January 2001) was a Soviet speed skater, speed skating coach, and speed skating scientist.

Living in Sverdlovsk, Stenin met and married fellow skater Valentina Stenina (Valentina Miloslavova before their marriage) during the early days of his speed skating career. They would remain married until Stenin's death in 2001, more than 40 years later.

Stenin trained at VSS Trud ('Labour') in Sverdlovsk. Having been selected for the Soviet national team in 1957, Stenin steadily made progress and after a few international competitions in 1958 and 1959, he had a great year in 1960: He became Soviet Allround Champion, then he won silver at the European Allround Championships, then his wife Valentina became World Allround Champion, then he himself became World Allround Champion (with a rather large margin of 2.758 points over the second place score), and then at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, he won bronze on the 1,500 m, while Valentina won silver on the 3,000 m. For his accomplishments he received the 1960 Oscar Mathisen Award.

1961 brought few major results for Stenin, but in 1962, he won gold at the Soviet National Allround Championships and bronze at the European Championships (in which he won one distance, the 1,500 m). Two weeks later, at the World Championships, he was in first place after three distances (with reigning World Champion Henk van der Grift in second place), but a 14th place on the final distance (the 10,000 m) made him end the World Championships in fourth place.

In 1963, Stenin became Soviet Allround Champion for the third and last time. Meanwhile, the Norwegian top skaters had increased their training loads significantly – using new methods introduced by coach Stein Johnson – and the results showed at the European Championships that year: Stenin finished fifth behind four Norwegian skaters (Nils Aaness, Knut Johannesen, Per Ivar Moe, and Magne Thomassen). Having analysed the Norwegian methods, Stenin started training harder, but he over-trained and injured himself. As a result, he was not selected for the Soviet Olympic team. This marked the end of Stenin's speed skating career and the start of his career as a coach.