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Everyone in Fairfield County is aware of Fairfield residents Chris Drury and Julie Chu, who play on the United States mens and womens hockey teams. There is a long-running tie to another athlete that is not quite so well-known.[breakhere]
Ivan Skobrev, who won two speedskating medals for Russia, including the silver in the 10,000 meters on Tuesday, is the brother of Artem Skobrev, a former Darien High runner who now attends the University of Connecticut.
The Skobrev family moved to Darien several years ago and Artem became one of the best distance runners in the state. He won the 1,600 meters in the 2009 Class M indoor championships and was eleventh in the Class MM cross country championships in 2008.
Ivan, however, didn't move with his family. Instead, he stayed in Russia, where he had already started to blossom into a speedskating champion. He qualified for four races at the 2006 Winter Olympics and has been even better this time around. He won a bronze medal in the 5000 meters, took silver in the 10,000 and finished fourth in the 1,500.
His younger brother Artem is on the cross country and track teams at UConn, which finished fifth at last weekends Big East championship.
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