Vadim Menkov

Vadim Menkov (born February 12, 1987) is an Uzbek male sprint canoeist who has competed since the late 2000s. He has won six medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with two golds (C-1 1000 m: 2009, 2010), a silver (C-1 500 m: 2013) and two bronze (C-1 500 m: 2010, C-1 1000 m: 2011). Most recently, Vadim won the gold medal in the sprint C1-1000m event in canoeing at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
Menkov also competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, finishing fourth in the C-1 1000 m event while being eliminated in the semi-finals of the C-1 500m. At the 2012 Summer Olympics he competed in the C-1 200 m, finishing 10th, and the C-1 1000 m, finishing 4th again.

Menkov was born in Toytepa, Tashkent Region, Uzbekistan. In 2004 he entered to the "Olympic reserver' high-school, which is located in Chirchiq. After successful graduation he was able to enter to the "Uzbek State Institute of Physical Culture" in the year of 2007.

Menkov is one of the most recognized sportsmen in Uzbekistan, whose major was canoeing. His early career began in 2003s when he decided to spend his life for canoeing, and his first trainer was Aleksandr Panomaryov.

After years of hard work, in 2006 in Doha, he was able to win his first International tournament. Meanwhile, in the same year he was able to win in Asian Championship on canoeing, and was able to have the honored second place in World Championship, which was held in Poland.

His talent and hard work helped him to attend in the 2008 Summer Olympics which was held in Beijing. There, he was able to achieve the 4th place in the C-1 1000 meter event, which was the best result among Asian representatives. After the Olympics games, by the resolution of the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, he was promoted as the "Honored sportsman of Uzbekistan".

2009 was the best of his career. In this year, Vadim Menkov won number of International tournaments which were held in Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary. Due to his results in 2009 he was recognized as the "Best canoe oarsman of the year", by the International Canoe Federation.

In 2012 he represented Uzbekistan at the 2012 Summer Olympics which was held in London. He was able to finish in 4th, as four years before, with a time of 3:49.255.

At the 2014 Asian Games he won a gold medal in the men's C-1 1000 m event.