Legendary Kazakh short-track champion Abzal Azhgaliyev announces retirement

Abzal Azhgaliyev is leaving competitive short track after 24 years in the sport, but he does not intend to leave it behind. Kazakhstan’s first athlete to win a Short Track World Cup stage and a four-time Olympian, he is preparing to become a coach.

Azhgaliyev said short track became an integral part of his life after he first encountered it. Since joining Kazakhstan’s national team in 2009, he became the country’s champion at every distance, won its first World Cup gold medal and reached international podiums repeatedly. He also carried Kazakhstan’s flag at two Olympic Games.

“

I was first introduced to short track 24 years ago. From that day on, the sport became an integral part of my life.

His record includes medals of every color at the Asian Games. All of those medals came in relay events, including the 2025 gold that formed part of Kazakhstan’s first Asian Games short-track title. In 2016, he won the individual 500-meter event at a World Cup stage in the United States.

“

This year, I decided to end my career as a professional athlete. Every athlete eventually reaches a new milestone.

An Olympic medal narrowly escaped him at the 2022 Beijing Games, where he reached the 500-meter final but finished fourth. After returning home, he wrote publicly about problems in the national team’s preparation and later discussed them in an extensive interview.

Azhgaliyev said the team lacked control over its training schedule and did not even have its own locker room. He also said rink access depended on who paid more because the facility was privately owned. Despite concerns that speaking openly could damage his career, he said he had spent a long time preparing to express his views.

“

My next goal is to use the experience and knowledge I have gained over these years to help develop Kazakh sport. I consider it my civic and personal duty to remain involved with the national team, guide young athletes and work for the future of short track in Kazakhstan.

Now he wants to use his experience to guide younger athletes and help shape the future of short track in Kazakhstan. He described that work as both a civic and personal duty, with the goal of helping the next generation achieve more.

“

In other countries, the national team chooses its training time and sets its own schedule, and everyone else adjusts around them. Because it is the national team. Here, the national team has to adjust to others. Whoever pays more gets more time. The ice rink is privately owned and has to make money. Those who pay get more time. We don’t even have our own locker room.