Aleksandr Shkylev

Aleksandr Shkylev came from a family of peasants from the Novgorod Governorate east of St. Petersburg. He attended the Vilnius Infantry Cadet School, from where he graduated in 1909 as a second lieutenant. Shkylev joined the 24th Simbirsk Infantry Regiment and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1913.

In 1911, Shkylev entered the Main Fencing and Gymnastics School in St. Petersburg, where he became an instructor one year later. At the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, he competed in the sabre individual and team events without major success. In the following year, Shkylev won team gold in the spadroon tournament, and also took first place in the individual sabre competition and second place in the individual foil and spadroon tournaments in the First Russian Olympics. In 1914, he won both contested titles, with the foil and the spadroon, at the Second All-Russian Sports Olympics. In both years, he also won titles at the Russian championships, with the spadroon in 1913 and with the sabre in 1914.

As a junior officer of his regiment and recipient of the Order of St. Stanislav, Shkylev died in a battle near Nidzica (German: Neidenburg) in August 1914, fighting with a sabre.