Evgeny Ignatov

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Evgeny Ignatov (Russian: Евгений Игнатов), born 1979 in Voronezh, is a Russian flatwater canoer and current (2006) world champion and world record holder in the Canadian canoe C2 200m.

Ignatov's first success in international competition came as a member of Russia's four-man (C4) crew at the 2004 European Championships in Poznań, Poland. The Russian crew of Ignatov / Sergeyev / Kruglyakov / Volkonskiy won two silver medals (C4 200m and 500m).

Ignatov was not selected for the 2004 Summer Olympics. Complaining of boredom, he took the opportunity to experiment with other disciplines. He became Russian Indian biathlon champion and then in September he was a medallist at the European Dragon boat championships in Stockton-on-Tees, England.

The following year Ignatov switched to the C2. With young partner Nikolay Lipkin he took the C2 200m silver medal at the European Championships behind Germans Gille and Wylenzek. Then at the World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia the Russians turned the tables on the German duo to win the gold medal in a time of 37.978 seconds.

With the departure of partner Lipkin, who switched to the individual C1 events for the 2006 season, it seemed that Ignatov might have difficulty repeating the success of 2005. He chose as his new partner another rising young star, twenty year-old Ivan Shtyl. The original plan had been to compete in the C2 1000m in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics but after an encouraging third place at the prestigious Poznań regatta in May they were controversially switched to the 200m, a distance which is not included in the Olympic schedule. Shtyl and Ignatov believed Russia's number one duo of Alexander Kostoglod and Alexander Kovalev were behind the decision, accusing them of behind-the-scenes "intrigues" to sabotage the new pairing. Shtyl and Ignatov made their point by finishing ahead of Kostoglod and Kovalev in the C2 500m at the next major regatta in Duisburg. They also won the C2 500m title at the Russian national championships in a race Kostoglod chose not to enter.

Ignatov did not have to wait for his young partner to fulfil his potential. At the 2006 European Championships, held in Račice, Czech Republic, Shtyl and Ignatov not only won the C2 200m gold medal but also set a new world record of 35.859 seconds.

They then repeated their success at the 2006 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, to give Ignatov his second consecutive world title.

At the final regatta of the season, in Guangdong, China, Ignatov and Shtyl also competed (and won) over the Olympic distance of 500m. National coach Sergey Verlin has promised that they will not be restricted to the non-Olympic 200m distance in future but the bitterness created by the selection controversy has not gone away. Ignatov has called upon the sports authorities to insist that the pre-Olympic C2 500m canoe selection is decided by trial races against Kostoglod et al.

He is 182 cm (6'0") tall and weighs 82 kg (181 lbs). He is coached by Vladimir Seminikhin.