Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) (AFP) – Timur Chakirov finalizes his preparation for the 2026 Winter Olympics by sliding at high speed along a slalom course in Kyrgyzstan. Participating in the Games is already a success for a skier from Central Asia, a very mountainous region but far from being a power in snow sports.

First modification: 02/12/2026 - 11:41 Last modification: 02/12/2026 - 11:55

"It is very difficult to train in Kyrgyzstan because we do not have the right conditions," Chakirov, 19, told AFP at the end of a stage of the Central Asian Cup in the mountains of the Ala-Archa national park.

Organized two weeks before the 2026 Games in Milan-Cortina (February 6-22), this competition brings together skiers from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, countries crossed by the Tian Shan and El Palmir mountain ranges, whose peaks are around 7,500 meters above sea level.

But since their independence in 1991, these former Soviet republics have sent only around twenty alpine skiers to the Winter Olympics. The reasons for such low presence? The competition of combat and traditional sports in the region and the still insufficient development of infrastructure.

With more than 2,700 meters of average altitude, "Kyrgyzstan is, however, a very mountainous country. It would be possible to build very good resorts and develop alpine skiing much better," laments Timour Chakirov.

Training in Europe

"Alpine skiing is too expensive a sport. The preconceived idea that Kyrgyzstan, with so many mountains, could easily develop alpine skiing is false," says Ioulia Tenkova of the Kyrgyz Ski Federation.

In his opinion, "the professional development of alpine skiing requires a very different thickness of snow" than in Kyrgyzstan, whose snow cover, too soft and bumpy in the case of recurrent skiing, is not adapted to high competition.

Although stations have been remodeled and nine-gun cannons have begun to be used, it is still "very expensive," Tenkova points out. An economic problem that is linked to climate change.

"We have a snow problem, our climate is too warm," says Tenkova, while temperatures reach historic highs in Central Asia, a region that suffers from global warming to a greater extent than other areas, according to international organizations.

In this context, Central Asian skiers have to travel to the Alps, thousands of kilometers away, to train.

"Today the essential preparation is done in Europe, in Italy, in Austria," explains Timour Chakirov, who admires past or present stars such as Marcel Hirscher, Henrik Kristoffersen or Marco Odermatt.

Trying to one day be like his role models, the young skier receives advice from his Kyrgyz friend Maksim Gordeev, a 2022 Olympian in Beijing. "He brought new methods from Europe and showed me how to do it, what to work on," explains Chakirov, who complains "about the scarce state funding" and the absence of tracks for professionals.

"Collaborate"

But going into exile to develop a sporting career is not cheap, even if "the host country sometimes bears the costs of food and accommodation," emphasizes Ioulia Tenkova.

Even in Kazakhstan, which proposed Almaty's candidacy for the 2022 Winter Olympics, "only two regions have the necessary infrastructure for the training of athletes," Maria Grigorova, an Olympian in Pyongyang in 2018, summarizes for AFP.

The Kazakh skier also remembers the lack of funding from the State, which, according to her, intended to completely stop supporting alpine skiing as an Olympic sport because the results were not good.

"In recent years we trained thanks to private funds. We have already made top20 and top30, but what results do they want? 1st, 2nd, or 3rd," says Grigorova, highlighting the priority given by the Kazakh government to sports with medal options.

For Tajik skiers who did not qualify for the Milan-Cortina Games, participating in the Central Asian Cup is already progress: until the spring of 2025 and the resolution of an endless territorial conflict, seeing athletes from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan congratulating each other was impossible.

"Our athletes met with colleagues from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and exchanged experiences," details Tajik coach Saïdakbar Echonov, who hopes to "collaborate" with coaches from neighboring countries to "take skiing to the top."

© 2026 AFP

The content you requested does not exist or is no longer available.