Sergey Shubenkov

Personal life Sergey is the son of Natalya Shubenkova, a former Soviet heptathlete who ranks among the best of all time in the event. Shubenkov decided at the age 16 to make sports his profession and began to train intensively. Alongside his athletic pursuits, he is also studying to obtain a degree in law. He is member of the Russian Armed Forces.

Biography Shubenkov made a breakthrough by finishing second to Britain's Lawrence Clarke at the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia. Shubenkov went on to win the European under-23 title in 2011. His first Worlds competition was at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea where he finished 25th in the heats and did not advance into the semi-finals.

Shubenkov won his first major European title at the 2012 European Championships in 110 m hurdles. Shubenkov debuted in the Olympics at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He did not, however, reach the finals in men's 110 m hurdles.

Shubenkov at the 2013 World ChampionshipsIn 2013, Shubenkov took the bronze in 110 hurdles at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan and won the gold medal in 60 m hurdles at the 2013 European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg. He won his first Worlds medal by winning a bronze at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

In the 2014 season, Shubenkov competed in the Diamond League series. On 18 May, at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, he finished in 4th place – 13.30. On 31 May, taking fifth in the Prefontaine Classic – 13.29. On 11 June, took third place in the ExxonMobil Bislett Games – 13.37 and on 3 July, took second place at the Athletissima – 13.13. He repeated as European champion winning gold at the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zurich.

In 2015 season, Shubenkov won the gold medal at the 2015 World Championships with a Personal Best of 12.98, he edged out Jamaica's Olympic reigning bronze medalist Hansle Parchment and American Olympic defending champion Aries Merritt who won the silver and bronze medals respectively. His personal best in the event is 12.92 seconds set at Székesfehérvár which is the current Russian record. Commenting about winning the competition, the 24-year-old quoted: "I can't describe what I'm feeling, I don't remember anything about the race. I heard the starting gun and then I opened my eyes and it was finished". Shubenkov finished 3rd in the overall ranking in the men's 110 m hurdles of Diamond League series for the 2015 season and won the last leg of the series in Zurich, beating David Oliver and Orlando Ortega.

In 2021, Shubenkov qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan from July–August 2021. During the warm-ups Shubenkov ruptured an Achilles tendon, forcing him to withdraw from the 110m hurdles event.

Competition record

Track records As of 12 September 2024, Shubenkov holds the following track records for 110 metres hurdles.

The performance at Kazan highlighted in red text was wind-assisted. LocationTimeWindspeedm/sDate Braunschweig 13.20 +1.0 22/06/2014 Bryansk 13.27 +0.3 02/07/2022 Cheboksary 13.20 –0.2 21/06/2010 Chelyabinsk 13.30 +0.8 28/08/2022 Hérouville-Saint-Clair 13.18 +0.3 31/05/2012 Kazan 13.10 +2.2 11/07/2013 Marrakesh 13.23 +0.1 14/09/2014 Montreuil 12.99 +0.5 19/06/2018 Padua 13.09 +1.7 02/09/2018 Smolensk 13.35 –1.4 29/05/2018 Sochi 13.24 –0.5 26/05/2016 Székesfehérvár 12.92NR +0.6 02/07/2018 Zhukovsky 13.25 –0.3 20/07/2016