Smirnow contested his first World Cup race in December 1982, the 15 km run in Davos |. In March 1983 he won the Junior World Championships in Kuopio , Finland , he became vice world champion over ten kilometers and won the gold medal with the Soviet 3x5 kilometer relay. He celebrated his first victory in the World Cup in 1986 in Kavgolovo. He won a total of 29 World Cup races, becoming the overall World Cup winner in 1991 and 1994. In October 1988 he suffered a broken arm, but he was able to make up for the training deficit and on February 18, 1989 in Lahti, he won the world championship gold medal in the 30 km classic competition. At the World Ski Championships he won five gold, three silver and three bronze medals. He was most successful in 1995 in Thunder Bay , when he became three-time world champion.
Smirnow took part in four Olympic Winter Games from 1988 to 1998 . In 1994 he became the first Olympic champion for the independent Kazakhstan and in the same year he was the first Kazakh to receive the Holmenkollen Medal . He befriended his greatest rivals, Norwegians Vegard Ulvang and Bjørn Dæhlie , and appeared on some of Dæhlie's television shows. Smirnov headed the Almaty city bid committee for the 2014 Winter Olympics , but the bid was not considered for the second round in June 2006.
From 1998 to 2004 Smirnov was a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission . He is one of the vice presidents of the International Biathlon Union (IBU), the umbrella organization for all national biathlon associations. He lives in Sundsvall , Sweden , is married and has two daughters.
successes
winter Olympics
1988 in Calgary : silver over 30 km, silver with the relay, bronze over 15 km
1994 in Lillehammer : gold over 50 km, silver in the pursuit race, silver over 10 km
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Soviet Union CIS (until March 1992) Kazakhstan
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Lahti
Reit im Winkl
Davos
Les Saisies
Val di Fiemme
Bohinj
Kavgolovo
Oslo
Thunder Bay
Štrbské Pleso
Nové Město
Falun
Tauplitz
Yongpyong