Meanwhile, the Norwegian top skaters had increased their training loads significantly – using new methods introduced by coach Stein Johnson – and the results showed at the European Championships that year: Stenin finished fifth behind four Norwegian skaters (Nils Aaness, Knut Johannesen, Per Ivar Moe, and Magne Thomassen).

Despite having studied the world's best speed skaters in recent years, Stenin still did not have extensive practical knowledge and after the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, he went to work at an institute for Physical Education.

During his years there as a post-graduate student and a teacher, Stenin published a book in which he scientifically analysed how the top speed skaters train and how this affects them physiologically.

The Soviet women at the time had been winning a lot less than they had in recent times before, but training with Stenin as their coach, skaters such as Tatyana Averina, Vera Bryndzei, Natalya Petrusyova, Nina Statkevich, Galina Stepanskaya, and several others soon started producing results, and during the next ten years, many world records holders, Olympic Champions, World Champions, European Champions, and various other major accomplishers were female Soviet skaters.

From 1984 onwards, Stenin published many works on speed skating, took part in many scientific conferences, and he earned a Ph.D. degree in 1994.