Yury Nikandrov

The son of a military officer, Yury Nikandrov was taught to shoot at the age of five and, by the onset of World War II, was proficient enough to serve as a sniper with the Soviet army. He was wounded eight times during the conflict and nearly died, but he survived and, despite the loss of the use of his main trigger figure, qualified to the Soviet national sport shooting squad. He spent over three decades on the team, including two as captain, not retiring from active competition until 1983. During that time, he won four team trap medals at the World Championships: gold in 1958 and 1962, silver in 1979, and bronze in 1966. He also competed at three consecutive Olympics – from 1952 through 1960 – in the individual trap competition, with a best finish of fifth in 1956, where he missed a medal in a shoot off with his compatriot Nikolay Mogilevsky and eventual bronze medalist Alessandro Ciceri of Italy. He also earned individual and team titles at the 1955 European Championships. Between 1983 and 1995, he worked as a coach and shooting teacher.