Alsim Leonidovich Chernoskulov

Today he is the most titled athlete in the history of Sverdlovsk sambo, its main celebrity and unquestionable authority.

In 2000, together with a group of other talented young sambo wrestlers under the guidance of his coaches Valery Stennikov and Alexander Melnikov, he moved from Kurgan to the town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma to make this town one of the leading centers of Russian and world sambo, and to become a symbol and embodiment of the sport for several generations.

Having won almost all possible titles of the junior sambo tournaments at the beginning of this millennium, he was considered one of the most promising sambo wrestlers in the country. In 2003 he made his first appearance at the adult Championship of Russia, where he gained the bronze medal. Later in 2006 he won the national championship and in November of the same year, he won silver of the world championship in Sofia, Bulgaria.

In 2007 at the Russian Championship in Kstovo he again proved his status of the strongest Russian sambist in the weight class of up to 90 kg. However, Alsim did not manage to win the world cup again. After easily defeating his last-year opponent Mindia Bodaveli from Georgia in the semi-final of 2007 World Championships, Chernoskulov who set himself up to win, lost in the decisive fight against Andrey Kazusenok from Belarus. But the next year he won the continental championship on the first try.

In 2009, being a three-time champion of Russia, he participated in the international championship and received the log-awaited gold medal. At the same time during the championship Alsim turned the tables on his both former opponents in the finals. In the first bout he defeated Kazusenk, and in the fight for the gold medal he beat Bodaveli.

In 2012 Chernoskulov became the gold winner for the second time. And not in his usual weight category of 90 kg, but in the weight class of up to 100 kg. This gold medal was both deserved and unexpected. The coaches of the national team included the native from Verkhnyaya Pyshma in the national team at the last moment to replace the injured leader in this weight class. Alsim deserved his credit of trust 100%, by demonstrating an incredibly competent and tactically mature fight. This is how only seasoned and proven fighters win.

Chernoskulov gave a reason to include him in the team of outstanding athletes first, at the 2014 Russian National Championship, when by the final "twisting" 20 seconds before the end of the round he snatched victory in the apparently lost fight for the gold medal and later at the World Championships in Narita, Japan, when in the decisive bout he demonstrably defeated an unyielding and physically stronger Mongolian athlete.

Chernoskulov continued to win in 2015 by becoming the strongest sambo wrestler in the country for the record sixth time, then triumphing at the first European Games in Baku and winning his fourth world title in Casablanca (Morocco).

He went to Sochi in November 2017 for his fifth world title, as a seven-time Russian national champion, and he did a brilliant job by winning over David Loriashvili of Georgia in the finals of the 100 kg weight class by applying a painful hold 30 seconds before the end of the bout.

The most impressive detail of this story is that the 35-year-old Chernoskulov continued to participate in the championships despite his five world titles. Having won the national championship for the eighth time in 2018, in November in Bucharest he successfully took the world title for the sixth time. So far, this is the absolute record in the history of the club and the entire Ural Sambo.

Today, the 38-year-old Chernoskulov is in good physical form and still gives a head start to his younger colleagues when preparing for the most important national and international competitions.

Landmark achievements

• World Champion (2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017) 
• Winner of the European Games (2015) 
• Vice World Champion (2006, 2007, 2011) 
• World Cup Winner (2012, 2020) 
• European Champion (2008, 2010) 
• Russian National Champion (2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018) 
• Winner of the World Youth Championship (2002, 2003)