Kazakhstan seeks to win at least two medals at Sochi Olympics

"The goal set for the national team is to perform better than in Vancouver both on the number of licenses, and the number of sports in which we play. Our task is to win at least two different medals at the Olympic Games in Sochi," Kanagatov noted.

He said that the main contenders for the award were the athletes who successfully performed at the world championships and cup competitions.
"If we talk about the main contenders for the award in Sochi, it is, first of all, Alexey Poltoranin, who showed stable results in cross-country skiing world championships and cup competitions," Kanagatov stressed.

In addition, he expressed hope that N. Chebotko and A.Poltoranin would also show good results in team sprint. Talking about the main opponents of Kazakhstan in skiing he named Russia, Norway and Switzerland.

Given the results that Kazakhstani athletes showed in the world championships, they can successfully perform in speed skating, figure skating, freestyle mogul, biathlon.

At the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 Kazakhstan ranked 25th in the overall standings with 1 silver medal.

The XXVII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi (Russia) will be held from 7 to 23 February 2014. The athletes will compete for 98 sets of medals in 15 sports. Licensing competitions will continue until January 2014.