site.btaBulgarian Alpine Skier Popov's Ninth Place Slalom Ranking Remains Best Result of Bulgarian Athletes at Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

The Bulgarian athletes at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing failed to win any medals but skier Albert Popov's ninth place in the slalom event continued the tradition of at least one top ten ranking of a Bulgarian athlete seen in seven consecutive Olympic Games.

Bulgaria had won quotas for 16 athletes in seven sports at Beijing 2022 but one athlete, Simeon Deyanov, who was expected to compete in cross-country skiing, tested positive for COVID days before the planned departure of the team and had to remain home.

Skier Popov proved the star of the Bulgarian team in Beijing by placing ninth in the slalom. He was only 0.36 seconds short of winning a medal. The skier also finished 17th in the giant slalom, the best performance of a Bulgarian in the event at Olympic Games.

The 0.36 difference proved negatively crucial for another Bulgarian athlete, snowboarder Radoslav Yankov, who had to drop from the eighth-finals in the men's snowboard parallel giant slalom after finishing 0.36 seconds behind Benjamin Karl who went on to win Olympic Gold.

The biathlon athletes too had some good moments, with Milena Todorova finishing 17th in the 7.5 km women's sprint, an error away from the top ten.

In the men's biathlon, Vladimir Iliev, for whom this was the fourth Olympic Games appearance, finished 25th in the 12.5 km pursuit which was his second strongest result at an Olympic Games event.

Ski jumper Vladimir Zografski placed 22nd in the men's normal hill event which was his second best performance at Olympic Games after finishing 14th at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games.

Despite the few good performances, the Bulgarians failed to win a medal at the Beijing Olympic Games, which became the fourth Winter Olympic Games when the team returns home empty-handed. The last Bulgarian athlete to win a medal at winter Olympic Games was Evgenia Radanova in the 500 m short track speed skating in Turin in 2006. Bulgaria has a total of six medals from winter Olympic Games.