Russia’s five-time world speed skating champ volunteers to help locked-down seniors

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. Russia’s five-time World Champion in speed skating Pavel Kulizhnikov has turned into a volunteer delivering food and other necessities in the Moscow Region to pensioners, who have been quarantined to prevent the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus, the press service of the Russian Speed Skating Federation (RSSF) announced in a statement on Wednesday. The world’s 25-year-old renowned speed skater and the holder of a world record, has been reportedly delivering food packages and other necessities to elderly people, who have been quarantined inside their homes due to the COVID-19 lockdown. "He has been donning a mask and gloves, adhering to all precautionary measures," the statement from the RSSF reads. "This was the fastest delivery of goods in the world. Pavel Kulizhnikov assisted in furnishing goods to pensioners." Kulizhnikov is a five-time World Champion in single distances in addition to his silver and bronze medals. The Russian speed skater is also the five-time winner of the European Championships. At the February 2020 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States, Kulizhnikov bagged two gold medals, namely in the 500-meter race and in the 1,000-meter battle, where he set a new world record. He was the first speed skater ever to break the 1,000-meter distance in less than a minute and six seconds (1 minute 05.69 seconds). Born in the city of Vorkuta in the Russian Republic of Komi, Kulizhnikov is currently residing and training in the city of Kolomna, outside Moscow, which has a world-class 6,150-seat indoor speed skating oval that hosted numerous international events since its opening in 2006. In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,000,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 128,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 492,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe. To date, a total of 24,490 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 1,986 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 198 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation. Read more