Sports
As if all his other achievements aren’t enough, Sergei Krikalyov has also won lots of awards in sports.
A first-grade swimmer; candidate for all-around combined tournament Master of Sport at Leningrad Championship in 1979.
From 1977 he took up aerobatic flying. During 1980-1981 he was a member of the aerobatic flying Leningrad Team.
In 1981 he was awarded the title of the USSR Master of Sports on aerobatic flying. He flew the aircraft Yak-18A, Yak-50, Yak-52, Yak-55, Yak-55M, Su-26, Su-29 (under space training program relative to L-39, MiG-21, MiG-25, Tu-134).
From 1983 he continued aerobatic flying at the Central Aeroclub after V. P. Chkalov in Moscow.
In 1982 he took part in the USS Championship on behalf of the Central Aeroclub team.
In 1983 he was recognized as an aerobatic flying Overall Champion of Moscow. In the Spartakiade finals of the USSR Nations and the USSR Championship, he represented the RS FSR team, where he won the third place in the team records and the 8th place as a personal record.
In October 1982 he became a candidate for the aerobatic flying USSR Team.
In 1985 he took part in the aerobatic Socialist Countries Championship as a member of the USSR 2nd team.
In 1986 he won the USSR Championship in the team records (the 2nd team of Russia).
In 1995 he became a member of the Russian combined team on sailplane aerobatic flying. He also participated in the World Championship (Silver Prize winner in aerobatic flying exercises). This was at the 6th World Glider Aerobatic Championships, held in Fayence, France. Sergei was ranked 57th in the Individual Results, with 7776.4190 points. He flew a Swift, registration RA-0121.
In 1996 he was awarded the title International Class Master of Sports. He also won the European Championship in the team records (champion by aerobatic flying exercises – a new program).
In 1997 he won the World Championship and the 1st Aerobatic Flying Games in the team records. He is a silver prize winner in a personal record.
In the 2003 World Glider Advanced European Aerobatic Championships, Sergei was ranked 50th in the Individual Results, with overall points of 10 206.563 (59.17%).
Aircraft flown
He has flown in the aircraft Yak-18A, Yak-52, Yak-5, Yak-55M, Su-26, Su-29, L-39.
He performed familiarization flights with instructor in the MIG-21, MIG-25 and TU-134.
He was granted a second pilot license to fly the T-38 Talon aircraft (USA) and has logged more than 140 hours in this aircraft. (The T-38 is a jet trainer aircraft flown by NASA pilot-astronauts.)
– Source: Energiya biography