Eugeni Dementiev

Who is Eugeni Dementiev?

Yevgeny Alexandrovich Dementyev is a Russian cross-country skier. He attended Children and Youth Sports School of Sovetsky District, Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, where his first trainer was Valery Ukhov. Dementyev's first international success was in 2001 at the Junior World Championship. He won two medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, with a gold in the men's 15 km + 15 km pursuit event and a silver in the men's 50 km freestyle mass start.

Dementyev finished 0.8 seconds behind the winner Giorgio Di Centa in the 50 km event, the closest margin of victory in Olympic history. This margin of victory eclipsed the previous record of 4.9 seconds set at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo between fellow Swedes Thomas Wassberg and Gunde Svan.

He also won two medals at the 2003 Nordic skiing World Junior Championships with a gold in 10 km and a bronze in the 30 km. Dementyev has two 4×10 km medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with a silver in 2007 and a bronze in 2005. His best individual finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was 22nd in the 15 km + 15 km double pursuit in 2005.