Career
Sakirkin was twice a silver medallist at the Summer Universiade (1989 and 1993) and was runner-up at the 1993 Asian Athletics Championships. In 1989 he improved his personal best to 17.58 metres and set the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics outdoor record. He held the Asian indoor record (1709 m), set at the 1993 Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics Championships, for twenty years and was eventually beaten by Dong Bin in 2013.
Sakirkin"s Asian outdoor record (1735 m, set at the Brothers Znamensky Memorial) stood from 1994 to 2009.
He set 17 Kazakh national records starting from 17.02 m up to the current record of 17.58 m. He also competed at the 2000 Olympics without reaching the final.
Sakirkin died on March 18, 2015. He was 49.