Kazakhstan sends 7 athletes to 2026 Paralympic Games
From March 6 to 15, seven Kazakh athletes will compete in the 14th Winter Paralympic Games in Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo, and several other cities in northern Italy, Qazinform News Agency reports.
Throughout the history of Kazakhstan’s participation in the Winter Paralympic Games, athletes have claimed three medals:
In 1994, Lyubov Vorobyova won silver in cross-country skiing (class B2-B3, for visually impaired or blind athletes).
In 2018, Alexander Kolyadin claimed gold in cross-country skiing (class LW4, athletes with amputations or coordination impairments who compete standing).
In 2022, Alexander Gerlits won bronze in biathlon (class LW6, athletes with amputations or coordination impairments who compete standing).
In 2026, Kazakhstan is sending seven athletes to Milan and Cortina to compete for medals in Paralympic cross-country skiing and Paralympic biathlon.
The flag bearer of the team is Yerbol Khamitov (class LW12, athletes with musculoskeletal impairments who use special sit-skis, with classification depending on trunk and pelvic muscle control), and Alexander Gerlits is the unofficial vice-captain of the team. Another experienced para-athlete in the delegation is Sergey Usoltsev (class LW12).
The other four athletes are Paralympic debutants: Yury Berezin (class LW12), Vladislav Kobal (class LW8, athletes with amputations or coordination impairments who compete standing), Nurlan Alimov (class LW6), and Anna Grachova (NS3, athletes with minimal visual impairments).
Khamitov, Gerlits, Usoltsev, and Berezin will compete in both biathlon and cross-country skiing, while Grachova, Kobal, and Alimov will compete only in cross-country skiing. The Kazakh athletes will be accommodated in the Predazzo Olympic and Paralympic Village, with competitions held at the ski and biathlon arena in Tesero.
The Kazakh athletes are set to start their biathlon competitions on March 7. Their final races at the 2026 Paralympics will be in cross-country skiing, scheduled for March 15.
