Two weeks left until the start of the XXV Winter Olympic Games // Photo: gettyimages.com
Most of our athletes will compete in biathlon, and Moldova will also send its only representative in cross-country skiing. Four athletes were included in the main composition of the national team, one will go to the Olympics as a reserve. All biathletes are natives of Russia, representing Moldova in international competitions since 2020.
The leader of the national team at the moment is 30-year-old biathlete Alina Stremous. Her highest achievement this season was the second place in the sprint race at the IBU Cup. She has also competed in the World Cup, a more prestigious tournament with the strongest biathletes of the world. Stremous has repeatedly placed in the top 20, thus guaranteeing her participation in the Games. At the last Olympics in Beijing (China), the athlete finished tenth in the sprint, 16th in the pursuit, in the individual race and mass start showed more modest performance. In 2022, she became European champion in the pursuit race.
Biathletes Pavel Magazeev and Maxim Makarov also guaranteed their participation in the Olympic Games. Four years ago in Beijing, Magazeev finished 26th in the individual pursuit, and in the sprint was not among the top 60, which prevented him from participating in the pursuit. Makarov, for his part, participated only in the sprint, which resulted in a 93rd place.
At the previous World Cup 2025/26 in Ruhpolding (Germany), 37-year-old Magazeev took 52nd place in the sprint, and 30-year-old Makarov – 82nd. Only Magazeev qualified for the men’s pursuit race, finishing 57th out of 60 competitors. At the start of the World Cup in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic) Magazeev was 47th, Maxim Makarov – 81st among 98 participants in the shortened individual 15 km race.
A higher place in this race was taken by Mikhail Usov, who became 40th. But based on his performance during the season, the 29-year-old athlete failed to make the main squad. The biathlete will go to the Winter Olympics as a reserve. He could not take part in the Olympics-2022 because of a positive test for COVID-19.
For 21-year-old skier Iulian Lukin, the Olympics in Italy will be his debut. He became the first Moldovan athlete to qualify for the cross-country skiing competition at the Games. Lukin is a native of Chisinau. His best performance this season was in the FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation) tournament, where he took 41st place in the sprint. The athlete also participates in biathlon competitions, but will only compete in cross-country skiing at the Olympics.
The White Olympics-2026 will be the eighth one for Moldova. The record holder among Moldovan athletes is biathlete and skier Elena Gorohova, who has participated in the Games four times. She is followed by luge athlete Bogdan Macovei, who qualified for the Olympics three times.
The XXV Winter Olympics will be held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy from February 6-22. About 2.9 thousand athletes from more than 90 countries will take part in them.
