R.I.P. Boris Leikin

The USA masters Speedskating community would like to share the sad news that well known Masters Athlete Boris Leikin passed away in early July unexpectedly at the age of 69.

If you have spent time skating at the Salt Lake oval, Boris was a constant presence and happy to talk skating and technique with everyone, no matter their ability level, sharing what he knew from his lifetime of training and coaching. He regularly would abandon his own workout to teach what he knew to others.

Boris was proudly from St. Petersburg and was a junior long track champion there in the early 1960s. He came with his parents to the USA in 1989, and often called that day his “second birthday.” He was extremely proud of becoming a naturalized citizen in 1998.

Boris’s skating accomplishments in his long life were massive.  He skated USA Olympic Trials in 1998, 2002 and 2005 (the final time at the age of 53).  Boris was IMSSC Long Track Masters World Sprint Champion in 2013 and 2014, and second four times.  He repeatedly crushed 500m and 1000m Masters Long Track world records in his 40s, 50s, and 60s, and still holds the all-time fastest 500m ever recorded time in age group M60 (39.67) and 65 (40.67).  In the 2020 Winter World Masters Games in Innsbruck, Boris won gold in the M65 500m, and silver in the 1000m.

https://www.speedskatingresults.com/

https://ngx.speedskatingnews.info/skater/boris-leikin

Boris still holds 5 US speedskating age group long track pack-style records, indoor and outdoor.  One of them has stood since 1999.

Boris’ greatest joys in life were skating fast 500m races and his house.

He toed the start line 313 times in 21 years of recorded races, across 14 ovals in 7 countries.

In a 2005 pre-race email to one of his athletes, after 14 bullet points of technical notes, he finished the list with this thought on what to do when crossing the finish line at the end of a hard 1000m race:

As usually, look at the clock and celebrate life. 

He will be sorely missed.

Andrew Love