Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, September 28, 2021: With six biathlon tickets for Beijing 2022 already in hand, Kazakhstan will ramp up efforts over the next couple of months as the national squad goes in hunt of more berths for the Winter Olympics next February.
Head coach of the biathlon national squad Maksat Sharanov said he was “grateful” for the support from the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan as he fine-tuned preparations for a final push for more qualifying berths at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
“Our main goal is the Olympic Games. Now we are greatly supported by the National Olympic Committee and our federation. We are grateful for that. Since the beginning of the year, we have developed an individual training plan for each athlete and we are working on this schedule,” Sharanov said.
He was speaking as the summer training camp for the Kazakh biathlon team at the Olympic training centre in Shchuchinsk drew to an end. Following this week’s national summer championships, the team moves to Almaty at the end of this month where all the athletes will undergo a medical examination.
The team will then leave for a training camp overseas in the high-altitude Austrian city of Ramzon from October 18 to November 1 where they will also test out new skis.
“So far we have six licenses for the Winter Olympics – four women and two men – based on our results at World Cup events. The final number of our Olympic squad will be known by January 16. If we show good results at upcoming competitions, we hope to increase the number of tickets to the Olympics,” explained Sharanov.
Biathlon competition at the Olympics will be held at the Hualindong Ski Resort. There will be a total of five competitions each for men and women – individual, sprint, pursuit, mass start and relay - as well as one mixed relay event.
