Stepan Oshchepkov

Stepan Oshchepkov was on the Soviet national team from 1956-65. He was selected for the 1956 Soviet Olympic team, but was only a reserve. Oshchepkov won his first international fame at the 1958 World Championships, where, with Aleksandr Silayev, he won the World C-2 10,000 m title, a feat they repeated at the 1959 European Championships. He was not as successful at the 1961 European Championships, winning silvers in both the C-2 1,000 m and C-2 10K. The high point of Oshchepkov’s career was probably at the 1964 Olympics, where he won the Olympic C-2 1,000 m title with his new partner Andriy Khimich. They also won the C-2 1,000 title at the 1965 European Championships. Domestically, Oshchepkov won six Soviet titles – in C-1 1,000 m in 1962 and in C-2 1,000 m in 1955-1958 and 1964. After finishing his sporting career, Oshchepkov worked as a canoeing coach in his native Vladivostok.