Haralds Silovs

Haralds Silovs

Haralds Silovs at the World Allround Championships 2013 in Hamar
Personal information
Born	(1986-04-07) 7 April 1986 (age 31) Riga, Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
Height	174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb)
Website	HaraldsSilovs.com
World championship wins	2008 Overall (European Short Track Speed Skating Championships)
Sport
Country	Latvia
Sport	Speed skating Short track speed skating
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	500 m: 0:36.323 (2013) 1000 m: 1:07.472 (2013) 1500 m: 2:11.345 (2008) 3000 m: 4:42.344 :
Medal record Men's short track speed skating Representing  Latvia European Championships 2008 Ventspils Overall 2008 Ventspils 1500 m 2009 Torino 1500 m 2011 Heerenveen 1000 m 2011 Heerenveen Overall 2008 Ventspils 1000 m 2009 Torino Overall 2011 Heerenveen 500 m 2011 Heerenveen 1500 m

Haralds Silovs (born 7 April 1986) is a Latvian long track and former short track speed skater, who became the 2008 European champion in short track. During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he gained worldwide media attention after competing in the 1500 m short track and 5000 m long track speed skating events in the same day, 13 February. He is the only athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics to compete in both short track and long track events at the same Games, and the only athlete to compete in two different disciplines on the same day.

Silovs was born in Riga, Latvia, on 7 April 1986. His mother Signe was a figure skater, and his father Edvins was a track cyclist for the USSR, and his older brother was involved in athletics as well. In addition to speed skating, Silovs became involved in mountain biking, and in 2001 at the age of 15 he won the Latvian Junior Championship in that sport.

He first became interested in speed skating in 1996, but interest in the sport across Latvia was relatively low and there were few training or competition opportunities. Both Silovs and his brother were invited in 2001 to a training camp in Slovakia where they were given instruction in speed skating by Hungarian coaches. By 2003, he was competing successfully in regional events across eastern Europe, and over the next few years trained with a number of Belgian and French athletes. In 2006, he began working with a personal coach, Jeroen Otter from the Netherlands. While he continued to train in speed skating, he also began attending Ventspils University College.

In 2007, Silovs had his first major success at the World Cup level of competition, winning a bronze medal in a 1000 m race and placing fifth in two World Championship events. The next year, in 2008, he won the gold medal at the European Championship in short track when the competition was held in his home territory, in Ventspils, Latvia. On his road to the title won both the 1500 and 3000 m distances in the competition. In 2009, he attempted to defend the title, but instead won the silver, losing to four-time champion Nicola Rodigari of Italy.