site.btaBoran Hadzhiev, Petar Popangelov to Attend Winter Olympics at Invitation of BOC

Two prominent figures in Bulgarian winter sports will attend the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the invitation of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC), the BOC said. Petar Popangelov – the first Bulgarian to win a World Cup race in alpine skiing – and Boran Hadzhiev, coach of Bulgaria’s only Winter Olympic champion, Ekaterina Dafovska, will travel to Italy and follow competitions from the Olympic programme.

Popangelov, who has two sixth-place finishes in slalom at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid 1980 and Sarajevo 1984, and who won the slalom at the Lenggries World Cup event in 1980, will watch the men’s giant slalom in Bormio on February 14, in which Kalin Zlatkov will compete. He will then cheer for Albert Popov and Zlatkov in the slalom on February 16.

In 2025, Popov recorded the first World Cup victory of his career discipline in Madonna di Campiglio (Italy), which came 45 years after Popangelov’s success in Lenggries.

Boran Hadzhiev will be in Antholz-Anterselva, where the biathlon competitions are continuing and where Bulgarian athlete Lora Hristova won a bronze medal on Wednesday. Bulgaria’s most recent Olympic successes are linked to his name – Ekaterina Dafovska’s gold medal at Nagano 1998 and Irina Nikulchina’s third place at Salt Lake City 2002.

Ekaterina Dafovska herself is also in Antholz-Anterselva, where, in her role as a representative of the International Federation, she took part in Lora Hristova’s award ceremony.